In response to the critical shortage of minorities in regenerative medicine research and the health professions, the overarching goal of ExStRM is to increase the number of underrepresented minority and disadvantaged students in the pipeline who are committed to research careers in regenerative medicine. Increasing the nation’s cadre of minority clinicians and researchers is a crucial component to eliminating health disparities, especially given that minority researchers and physicians are more likely to work in minority communities than their non-minority counterparts. The ExStRM Program aims to increase the diversity and quality of the research workforce specifically in regard to the ongoing nationwide effort to better understand the complex health-related regenerative medicine needs of low-income, medically underserved populations and thereby, ultimately, to reduce disparities in health care accessibility, quality, and outcomes.

The ExStRM Program will also provide an in-depth health science immersion experience to underrepresented high school students predominantly from high schools in the of South Los Angeles community.