title: Hot topics, urgent priorities, and ensuring success for racial/ethnic minority young investigators in academic pediatrics.
abstract: The number of racial/ethnic minority children will exceed the number of white children in the USA by 2018. Although 38% of Americans are minorities, only 12% of pediatricians, 5% of medical-school faculty, and 3% of medical-school professors are minorities. Furthermore, only 5% of all R01 applications for National Institutes of Health grants are from African-American, Latino, and American Indian investigators. Prompted by the persistent lack of diversity in the pediatric and biomedical research workforces, the Academic Pediatric Association Research in Academic Pediatrics Initiative on Diversity (RAPID) was initiated in 2012. RAPID targets applicants who are members of an underrepresented minority group (URM), disabled, or from a socially, culturally, economically, or educationally disadvantaged background. The program, which consists of both a research project and career and leadership development activities, includes an annual career-development and leadership conference which is open to any resident, fellow, or junior faculty member from an URM, disabled, or disadvantaged background who is interested in a career in academic general pediatrics.
  
  
  
  As part of the annual RAPID conference, a Hot Topic Session is held in which the young investigators spend several hours developing a list of hot topics on the most useful faculty and career-development issues. These hot topics are then posed in the form of six "burning questions" to the RAPID National Advisory Committee (comprised of accomplished, nationally recognized senior investigators who are seasoned mentors), the RAPID Director and Co-Director, and the keynote speaker.
  
  
  
  The six compelling questions posed by the 10 young investigators-along with the responses of the senior conference leadership-provide a unique resource and "survival guide" for ensuring the academic success and optimal career development of young investigators in academic pediatrics from diverse backgrounds. A rich conversation ensued on the topics addressed, consisting of negotiating for protected research time, career trajectories as academic institutions move away from an emphasis on tenure-track positions, how "non-academic" products fit into career development, racism and discrimination in academic medicine and how to address them, coping with isolation as a minority faculty member, and how best to mentor the next generation of academic physicians.
authors.affiliation: Medica Research Institute, Mayo Clinic, and University of Minnesota School of Public Health, MR-CW105, P.O. Box 9310, Minneapolis, MN, 55440, USA. Glenn.Flores@Medica.com.
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8117-945X
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Flores
authors.affiliation: Stanford University School of Medicine, Medical School Office Bldg., X240, 1265 Welch Road, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Fernando S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Mendoza
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, 1001 Potrero Ave, SFGH 5, San Francisco, CA, 94110, USA.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fuentes-Afflick
authors.affiliation: University of Washington School of Medicine, and Seattle Children's Research Institute, Suite 400, M/S: CW8-6, PO Box 5371, Seattle, WA, 98145, USA.
authors.forename: Jason A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Mendoza
authors.affiliation: Drexel University School of Medicine and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, 160 East Erie Ave, Philadelphia, PA, 19134, USA.
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pachter
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 4650 Sunset Blvd., MS 76, Los Angeles, CA, 90027, USA.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Espinoza
authors.affiliation: Columbia University Medical Center, 630 West 168th Street, Presbyterian Bldg 17-201I, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Cristina R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado School of Medicine, 13123 E. 16th Ave, B-158, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA.
authors.forename: Danielle D P
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.affiliation: The Children's Hospital of Montefiore, 3444 Kossuth Ave, 1st Floor, Bronx, NY, 10467, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, University of Pennsylvania, 13th Floor, Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Kymberly M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Dr., MSC 7808, San Antonio, TX, 78229, USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.affiliation: University of Florida College of Medicine, 841 Prudential Dr, Suite 1330, Jacksonville, FL, 32207, USA.
authors.forename: Mikah C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Medical School at Houston, 6431 Fannin St., JJL495, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Kenya M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Parks
authors.affiliation: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, 1611 NW 12th Ave, Miami, FL, 33136, USA.
authors.forename: Kimberly L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 4650 Sunset Blvd., MS 76, Los Angeles, CA, 90027, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Russell
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D035843:Biomedical Research; D002321:Career Choice; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D004651:Employment; D005006:Ethnicity; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American; D008611:Mentors; D008913:Minority Groups; D000072143:Pediatricians; D010372:Pediatrics; D044469:Racial Groups; D012108:Research Personnel; D063508:Social Discrimination; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: African Americans; Discrimination; Diversity; Hispanic Americans; Minority groups; Racism; Workforce