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 3 to August 6, 2019. The inaugural class consisted of fifteen students in 2015. In 2017, 20 students participated. A maximum of twenty students will be accepted annually.
For 2019 the Program will be held from June 3 to August 6.
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
- Especial 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
Program Benefits
- $3,000 stipend
- On campus housing for non-UA students, paid by the program
- Six units upper division graded undergraduate research
- Professional MCAT and GRE preparation program
- Gain hands-on experience conducting research
Application
- A completed application
- Two letters of recommendation
- Recent unofficial transcript
The 2019 BLAISER application is now open!
Apply Here
The application deadline for BLAISER has been extended to February 26, 2019 at 11:45pm.
For more information, contact:
Jorge Gomez, MD, PhD
Director, BLAISER
jorgejgomez@email.arizona.edu, 520-621-1244
Viridiana Johnson, MD
Coordinator, BLAISER
viridianaj@email.arizona.edu, 520-626-0726
2017 Colloquium Information