The Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program at UMBC began in 1996 with an MBRS-IMSD (Minority Biomedical Research Support - Initiative for Minority Student Development) grant from the National Institute of General Medical Science. The goal of the program is to increase diversity among students pursuing Ph.D. degrees in the biomedical and behavioral sciences.

In 1996 two African American students applied to the program - one in chemistry and one in psychology. Three additional students applied in 1997. To increase awareness of the program and increase interest of URM students in pursuing doctoral degrees, outreach efforts were initiated in 1997. These efforts include a Summer Undergraduate Research Experience that consists of a 10-week research experience, a GRE prep course, mentoring by URM graduate students and faculty, presentation at a research fair, and other activities designed to prepare and motivate students to pursue PhD degrees. Interest in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (Figure 1) has increased dramatically, up from 12 applicants in 1998 to approximately 100 applicants in 2004. Due to these summer outreach efforts, interest in the Biomedical PhD Program (Figure 2) also increased dramatically, up from 3 applicants in 1997 to more than 40 applicants in 2005. This has translated into a remarkable growth in URM participation in the biomedical PhD programs at UMBC (Figures 3 and 4). Thus, URM participation in the Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biomedical Engineering, and Psychology programs at UMBC has increased from 0%, 1%, 0%, 1% and 10%, respectively, prior to the Meyerhoff IMSD Program to current levels of 16%, 10%, 33, 13% and 19%, respectively.

Considerable efforts are made to ensure that the Meyerhoff PhD students that enter the program are successful. A Summer Bridge that precedes the first year of graduate school is designed to improve preparation for graduate studies, build support networks, gain early research experience, and provide time for students to become acclimated to graduate school. The retention rates in most departments exceed 80% (Figure 5), which in all cases is higher than the departmental averages for all students and greatly exceeds the national average for URM students of about 50%.

The Biomedical Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program, supported by funding from the NIH IMSD, Proctor and Gamble Corporation, and other private sources, is open to U.S. students and permanent residents from all cultures and backgrounds who are interested in the advancement of underrepresented groups in the biomedical and behavioral sciences.