Scientific pursuits often require examining a problem from different angles in order to gain a complete understanding. Such an undertaking often requires multiple researchers, each with a unique skill set. But what happens when certain voices are ignored over and over, in favor of others? It breeds inequality that weakens our science and our sense of community.

FUTURE-MINDS-QB, a bridge program streamlining a path from a master’s degree at Fisk University, a historically Black university in Nashville, to a doctoral degree at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has received a T32 training grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).