ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The University of Michigan (U-M) is partnering with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to jointly invest $79 million for diversity, equity, and inclusion in biomedical and health sciences.

The investment will kickstart the Michigan Program for Advancing Cultural Transformation (M-PACT) and will be used to support and recruit 30 new faculty members to the Ann Arbor campus.

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“M-PACT will serve as a model for institutions committed to inclusive excellence,” said Robert Sellers, the Charles D. Moody Collegiate Professor of Psychology, former chief diversity officer and vice provost for equity and inclusion at U-M, and current co-administrator of M-PACT. “This innovative program will demonstrate that a cohort and cluster model of faculty hiring, development and sponsorship, which intentionally targets challenges that disproportionately affect underrepresented minority scholars, cannot only improve the careers of the promising researchers in that cohort, but also transform broader institutional culture.”

The goal of the program, according to a press release from U-M, is “to address persistent and significant underrepresentation of minoritized individuals and groups in the biomedical and health sciences.”

To that end, U-M will create a “faculty development core” that provides resources, mentorship, and “culturally aware coaching” to support early-career faculty. It will also use data from sources including administrative records and interviews to document and evaluate the recruitment of M-PACT scholars. This information will be used to promote “sustainable institutional advancements at U-M and will be broadly disseminated for inclusion in biomedical and health science communities beyond Ann Arbor.”

“M-PACT will contribute meaningfully to diversifying the biomedical and health sciences at U-M and beyond,” said Reshma Jagsi, adjunct professor of radiation oncology in the Medical School and co-administrator of M-PACT. “The program will hire and support a large cohort of diverse faculty who will be expertly prepared for success as researchers and DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] change agents within U-M and their fields of study.”
Recruitment efforts are scheduled to begin this fall. M-PACT scholars will receive primary appointments in U-M schools and colleges.

“To find and implement creative solutions that address complex problems at the frontiers of biomedical science, it is imperative for us to engage a broad diversity of thought,” said Rebecca Cunningham, vice president for research. “This tremendous investment by the National Institutes of Health and the University of Michigan will support the future of research at U-M, while advancing knowledge that will inform higher education efforts broadly.”