Initiative on Maximizing Student Development

The Initiative on Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) program is a National Institute of Health student development program to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups in biomedical research at research-intensive environments. "Around 2010, we looked at the data and only 12 percent of our students were underrepresented, and we also saw that when we brought in underrepresented students, 40 percent would leave after the first year and 60 percent would take longer than their peers to graduate," said Dr. Nicquet Blake, associate dean for admissions and student affairs at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and principal investigator of the IMSD grant. After the launch of IMSD, we have seen tremendous changes. "Our data shows that now our students are graduating at the same rate as their peers and now 27 percent of students are from underrepresented groups," Dr. Blake said.