Research Project
10399086
Project Summary/Abstract The Drug Discovery and Biomedical Research Training (DDBRT) Program at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore School of Pharmacy (UMES SOP) mentors, trains, and motivates minority high school students in Somerset County to pursue education and careers in the applied healthcare fields and biomedical research. Somerset County is one of the most rural and underserved communities in the State of Maryland, with one of the highest COVID-19 positivity rates and lowest COVID-19 vaccinations out of any Maryland district, especially among minority populations. The proposed project will use a multi-component approach leveraging strengths of the DDBRT to disseminate information and reduce vaccine hesitancy in under-vaccinated populations through in-person workshops, volunteering at a COVID-19 vaccination site, digital media campaigns, video production, and social media platforms. An expert panel of healthcare providers, public health workers, teachers, and religious leaders will implement a curriculum compromised of interactive modules about scientific findings on SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, recognizing misinformation, and overcoming SARS-CoV-2 vaccine hesitancy aimed at high school students, teachers, and their families. This will be presented in-person and recorded on websites, social media, and YouTube for the community. High school students will help to design two student-hosted videos featuring different topics to improve vaccine confidence that will be placed on websites, YouTube, and on social media. Participants will also apply these principles learned at a COVID-19 vaccination event to address remaining vaccine-related misconceptions. The high school students and SEPA PIs will use the UMES Facebook page to disseminate COVID-19 and vaccination scientific findings to the community on a weekly basis. The program is expected to occur from July 2021 to June 2022. This proposal is innovative by combining the expertise of pharmacists, the main providers of SARS-COV-2 vaccines with specific knowledge of issues related to vaccine hesitancy, with influential community leaders to educate and empower students from a medically underserved population. These students will become COVID-19 vaccine champions and serve as ambassadors to encourage their teachers, family, and community to get vaccinated through novel educational resources. Overall, the expected outcome aligns with the parent DDBRT program by stimulating the student?s interest in and pursuit of pharmaceutical, health-related, and biomedical research careers by actively connecting in-classroom biomedical studies with the real-world pandemic that is disproportionately affecting their community.
