Johnson Gabriel Lee, Neubauer Leah C, Bennett Heidi, Bolivar Andrea, Kirkland Anna R, Harper Gary W
School of Social Work, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States.
School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Front Public Health. 2025 Jul 30;13:1601175. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1601175. eCollection 2025.
Undergraduate public health degrees have grown over 1,100% over the past 20 years, not including interdisciplinary scholars who are interested and do not major in the field, marking an opportunity for proactive public health leadership in this burgeoning group of people with potential futures as public health leaders. The Students Opportunities for AIDS/HIV Research Program (SOAR) is a 2-year program funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), providing research training and leadership development to historically underrepresented college undergraduates as formerly defined by NIMH. SOAR prepares students for a future as interdisciplinary HIV researchers and leaders in diverse disciplines, including public health. Rooted in critical feminist values and utilizing a cohort model, a high impact practice (HIP; Opacich), SOAR demonstrates tremendous potential for developing collaborative, transformational leaders (Teitel) and an example of a multi-tiered mentorship model.
SOAR is housed in the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, an interdisciplinary unit of the University's Office of the Vice President for Research and is operated in partnership with a CEPH-accredited School of Public Health at an elite predominately white institution (PWI). The program is grounded in guiding principles that center the foundational work of Black feminist scholars and activists, as well as the scholarship of Transformative Education (hooks). The development of the various components of the program were guided by the expanded Social Cognitive Career Theory (eSCCT) pedagogical frameworks of cohort models (Opacich) and mentorship ecosystems (Endo).
To date, three out of the four cohorts have graduated from the SOAR program, with 90% matriculating into advanced degree programs. SOAR scholars have also co-authored 32 peer reviewed articles and delivered over 80 presentations or panels at conferences. SOAR scholars have matriculated into a diverse array of disciplinary programs, moving towards their next step towards becoming HIV and public health researchers and leaders.
Approaches to developing cohorts were employed in addition to leveraging key critical, feminist approaches including embracing difference as key to cohort and leadership development, identifying key collective struggles to build cohesion, fostering a community of care, and embracing diversity across numerous social and developmental locations within the cohort. The SOAR program provides not only key ley lessons outlined, but also an example for future programs to follow and engage in early HIV and public health research leadership development at the undergraduate level.
在过去20年里，本科公共卫生学位增长超过1100%，这还不包括那些对该领域感兴趣但并非主修该领域的跨学科学生，这为在这群有望成为公共卫生领导者的新兴人群中积极发挥公共卫生领导力创造了契机。艾滋病/艾滋病毒研究项目学生机会（SOAR）是一个由美国国立精神卫生研究所（NIMH）资助的为期两年的项目，为历史上代表性不足的大学生提供研究培训和领导力发展，这是NIMH之前所定义的。SOAR为学生未来成为跨学科的艾滋病毒研究人员和包括公共卫生在内的不同学科的领导者做好准备。SOAR植根于批判女性主义价值观并采用群组模式，这是一种高影响力实践（HIP；奥帕奇克），它在培养协作型、变革型领导者（泰特尔）方面展现出巨大潜力，也是多层次指导模式的一个典范。
SOAR设在妇女与性别研究所以内，该研究所是大学负责研究的副校长办公室的一个跨学科单位，并与一所位于精英白人为主的机构（PWI）且获得公共卫生教育委员会（CEPH）认证的公共卫生学院合作开展。该项目以指导原则为基础，这些原则以黑人女性主义学者和活动家的基础工作以及变革性教育（胡克斯）的学术研究为核心。该项目各个组成部分的发展由群组模式（奥帕奇克）和指导生态系统（远藤）的扩展社会认知职业理论（eSCCT）教学框架所引导。
迄今为止，四个群组中有三个已从SOAR项目毕业，90%的学生进入了高级学位项目。SOAR学者还共同撰写了32篇经过同行评审的文章，并在会议上发表了80多次演讲或参加了80多个小组讨论。SOAR学者进入了各种各样的学科项目，朝着成为艾滋病毒和公共卫生研究人员及领导者的下一步迈进。
除了利用关键的批判女性主义方法外，还采用了培养群组的方法，包括将接纳差异作为群组和领导力发展的关键，确定关键的集体斗争以建立凝聚力，培育关爱社区，并在群组内众多社会和发展层面接纳多样性。SOAR项目不仅提供了上述关键经验教训，还为未来项目提供了一个范例，供其效仿并在本科层面开展早期艾滋病毒和公共卫生研究领导力发展。
