A COMPASS to guide the growth of a diverse regenerative medicine workforce that represents California and benefits the world

Our COMPASS Scholars Program will provide numerous benefits to the state of California and its citizens. First, approximately 25 Scholars, who may not have otherwise had the resources or “cultural capital” to attend or thrive at our university, will receive the finances and support necessary to enroll in our program, where they will complete courses, industry internships, and research projects with the support of a comprehensive mentoring program that will launch them into successful careers in regenerative medicine. This will increase opportunities for talented students from our state who come from underrepresented populations, and/or who have historically faced barriers to inclusion. Second, hundreds of other students will benefit from the recruitment procedures, outreach, mentoring processes, coursework, and/or industry partnerships that we develop for the COMPASS Scholars Program, as we intend to broadly implement our best practices where appropriate. If other institutions choose to implement our best practices, based on the journal articles that we publish on those practices, then the beneficiaries of our approach could extend into the thousands of students each year. Third, biotech companies will see their products advance more efficiently toward commercial implementation through the efforts of uniquely trained COMPASS Scholars and their classmates, as our graduates leverage our novel training program to make immediate impacts in their professional careers. These companies will also benefit from having more diverse perspectives and backgrounds within their workforce. Fourth, all Californians will benefit from the availability of regenerative medicines that our COMPASS Scholars will help deliver sooner and more universally than they otherwise would be.