title: The Final Frontier-Transitions and Sustainability: From Mentored to Independent Research.
abstract: A recurrent theme in much of the contemporary HIV behavioral and social science research is that ecological approaches that acknowledge the interplay of structural, institutional, and individual-level factors are essential to improve HIV prevention efforts in racial/ethnic minority communities. Similarly, an ecological approach provides an innovative framework for understanding the challenges that many racial/ethnic minority HIV prevention researchers face in their quest to transition from mentored researcher to independent researchers. Informed by an ecological framework, and building on our experiences as two racial/ethnic minority women HIV prevention researchers who transitioned from a formal research mentorship relationship to become independent HIV prevention researchers-principal investigators of NIH-funded R01 grants-, we frame our discussion of the mentored to independence research trajectory with a focus on structural, institutional, and individual determinants. Throughout, we integrate suggestions for how institutions, mentors, and HIV prevention researchers can facilitate the final frontier from mentored research to independence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The George Washington University, 2125 G St. NW, Wahington, DC, 20052, USA. zea@gwu.edu.
authors.forename: Maria Cecilia
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Zea
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The George Washington University, 2125 G St. NW, Wahington, DC, 20052, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bowleg
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; D035843:Biomedical Research; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D008611:Mentors; D008913:Minority Groups; D044469:Racial Groups; D012108:Research Personnel
keywords: Barriers to sustainability; Individual; Mentoring; Social/institutional; Structural