BLAISER

About Us

Border Latino and American Indian Summer Exposure to Research (BLAISER) was created to address health disparities in Arizona’s ethnically diverse and fast-growing communities. This cutting edge 10-week, undergraduate research experience provides an extraordinary laboratory training opportunity, pairing the junior and senior level student-scholars with preeminent UA health sciences researchers. This is a premier research experience for undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds arming them with skills to make them competitive and successful in their pursuit of post-secondary education and research. 

This program is held annually in the summer to allow students the opportunity to immerse themselves on campus at the University of Arizona – the next program runs June 7 to August 11, 2021. A maximum of twenty students will be accepted annually.

For 2021 the Program will be held from  June 7 to August 11.

Program Highlights

  • Mentorship by a UA biomedical researcher or medical scientist working on translational research
  • Master the medical and graduate application process
  • Learn about minority health disparities
  • Participation in workshops on GRE and MCAT in order to make students more competitive
  • Travel to Nogales AZ and Sells AZ in order to learn about health disparity issues in the border region.
  • Create and present a research poster
  • Share experiences with students that are pursuing similar goals and objectives
  • Present research at the UA Summer Research Conference

Student Eligibility

  • Current Junior status or beyond
  • Cumulative 3.25 GPA
  • Special attention to: Latinos, Native Americans and African Americans, populations that are underrepresented in the biomedical and health sciences
  • Currently majoring in: biology, chemistry, physiology, microbiology, engineering, computer sciences, and similar fields
  • U.S. Citizen/U.S. Permanent Resident card holder

Program Benefits

  • $3,000 stipend
  • On-campus housing for non-UA students, paid by the program
  • Six units of upper-division graded undergraduate research
  • Professional MCAT and GRE preparation program
  • Gain hands-on experience conducting research

Application

For the next summer 2020 application, the following items will be required:
  • A completed application
  • Two letters of recommendation
  • Recent unofficial transcript

The 2021 BLAISER application will open in October!

APPLY HERE!

Application deadline February 15, 2021. 

For more information, contact:

Allison Huff Macpherson, DHEd
Director, BLAISER
allison7@email.arizona.edu,  520-626-4839

Viridiana Johnson, MD
Coordinator, BLAISER
viridianaj@email.arizona.edu, 520-626-0726