Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science’s HELIX magazine recently featured the university’s INSPIRE program, which is a nationally recognized summer mentoring and applied research initiative for local, highly-motivated Latino high school students.
Professor Hector Rasgado-Flores, MSc, PhD, chair of INSPIRE and Chicago Medical School director of diversity outreach and success, said the program offers the opportunity to underserved students to develop their potential. It also is an important way that the university supports STEM education among underrepresented students in the local community.
“Science, like any profession, benefits enormously from diversity,” Dr. Rasgado-Flores said. “Too often, we are missing the talent that comes from different experiences, cultures, histories and different approaches to thinking. If we attract a diverse body of students to do science, we’re enriching science.”