Definition of Underrepresented Minorities

There is a significant gap in underrepresented minorities in pediatric research. In the long term this gap limits our ability as a scientific community to solve the issues facing children. An increasingly diverse pool of applicants would help to better serve pediatric populations and provide better and more creative solutions to health problems facing children.

The National Science Foundation has identified the following groups as underrepresented in biomedical research: Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, First Peoples or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders.

Although we feel strongly about the benefits of having a diverse pool of funded investigators, we have never collected this data and encourage applicants from these groups to self-identify at the time of application. We hope to use this data to identify areas where we can improve funding opportunities for these groups.