Leveraging a collaborative consortium model of mentee/mentor training to foster career progression of underrepresented postdoctoral researchers and promote institutional diversity and inclusion

Changing institutional culture to be more diverse and inclusive within the biomedical academic community is difficult for many reasons. Herein we present evidence that a collaborative model involving multiple institutions of higher education can initiate and execute individual institutional change directed at enhancing diversity and inclusion at the postdoctoral researcher (postdoc) and junior faculty level by implementing evidence-based mentoring practices. A higher education consortium, the Big Ten Academic Alliance, invited individual member institutions to send participants to one of two types of annual mentor training: 1) “Mentoring-Up” training for postdocs, a majority of whom were from underrepresented groups; 2) Mentor Facilitator training—a train-the-trainer model—for faculty and senior leadership. From 2016 to 2019, 102 postdocs and 160 senior faculty and administrative leaders participated. Postdocs reported improvements in their mentoring proficiency (87%) and improved relationships with their PIs (71%). 29% of postdoc respondents transitioned to faculty positions, and 85% of these were underrepresented and 75% were female. 59 out of the 120 faculty and administrators (49%) trained in the first three years provided mentor training on their campuses to over 3000 undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs and faculty within the project period. We conclude that early stage biomedical professionals as well as individual institutions of higher education benefited significantly from this collaborative mentee/mentor training model</p

Transdisciplinary and social-ecological health frameworks—Novel approaches to emerging parasitic and vector-borne diseases

Ecosystem Health, Conservation Medicine, EcoHealth, One Health, Planetary Health and GeoHealth are inter-related disciplines that underpin a shared understanding of the functional prerequisites of health, sustainable vitality and wellbeing. All of these are based on recognition that health interconnects species across the planet, and they offer ways to more effectively tackle complex real-world challenges. Herein we present a bibliometric analysis to document usage of a subset of such terms by journals over time. We also provide examples of parasitic and vector-borne diseases, including malaria, toxoplasmosis, baylisascariasis, and Lyme disease. These and many other diseases have persisted, emerged or re-emerged, and caused great harm to human and animal populations in developed and low income, biodiverse nations around the world, largely because of societal drivers that undermined natural processes of disease prevention and control, which had developed through co-evolution over millennia. Shortcomings in addressing drivers has arisen from a lack or coordinated efforts among researchers, health stewards, societies at large, and governments. Fortunately, specialists collaborating under transdisciplinary and socio-ecological health umbrellas are increasingly integrating established and new techniques for disease modeling, prediction, diagnosis, treatment, control, and prevention. Such approaches often emphasize conservation of biodiversity for health protection, and they provide novel opportunities to increase the efficiency and probability of success. Keywords: Baylisascariasis, Conservation Medicine, EcoHealth, Ecosystem Health, GeoHealth, Integrative research, Lyme disease, Malaria, One Health, Planetary Health, Social-ecological systems, Toxoplasmosis, Transdisciplinarit

African Indigenous Vegetables Production and Consumption Behavior of Farmers in Zambia: an Econometric Analysis

African indigenous vegetables (AIVs) have recently received wide attention for their contribution toward food and nutrition security. Promoting the production and consumption of AIVs is likely to mitigate food insecurity and alleviate malnutrition in the African region. To document and analyze existing patterns of AIV production in Zambia, farmers were surveyed in person using a structured questionnaire. A total of 300 farmers were selected from Lusaka (50), Katete (50), Chipata (75), Lundazi (75), and Petauke (75). Analysis of the survey results using logit model identified that those who farm less than 10 acres of farming land, were concerned about nutrition quality of AIVs, reported that price of farm produce is fixed by buyers, were registered as a member of any community group or association, received training related to nutrition and health, saved money for unexpected expenses, and were single are more likely than other farmers to produce AIVs for home consumption. Whereas, those who visited the nearest market two times or more, traded agricultural produce through intermediaries, owned a TV, earned an income above 30,000 kwacha and has a University degree are less likely to produce AIVs for home consumption. These results indicate that interventions aimed at increasing AIV production for home consumption should target specific groups of farmers rather than all farmers. This survey also captures the most common AIVs that are grown in these regions in Zambia: Sweet potato leaves, amaranth and orange sweet potato