The Indiana University School of Medicine Initiative for Maximizing Graduate Student Diversity (IUSOM IMGSD) program addresses the critical shortage of underrepresented ethnic minorities (UEM) in tenure-track faculty positions at medical schools in the United States. The long-term goals of the IUSOM IMGSD are to: (1) increase the number of UEMs who matriculate in and graduate from Ph.D. programs in the basic medical sciences (BMS) and (2) increase the number of UEMs, in general, who pursue careers as independent biomedical research scientists and faculty members. IUSOM IMGSD will accomplish these goals by (1) recruiting four new UEM graduate students into the basic science departments each year and supporting a total of 8 annually (each student will receive two years of IMGSD stipend support);(2) providing sustained multi-tiered mentoring through all years of doctoral studies, but particularly the initial two years of doctoral studies;(3) providing enhanced curriculum and development sessions during the first two years of doctoral study, including personal one-on-one tutoring when needed;(4) providing faculty mentoring for grant-writing with the goal of obtaining extramural funding for the remaining four years of doctoral education. These goals will result in four specific outcomes: (1) annually, four UEMs will be funded and ready to perform state-of-the-art research under the direction of a nationally known research mentor;(2) UEMs will be publishing in peer-reviewed journals;(3) at graduation with a Ph.D., UEMs will be placed in postdoctoral research positions which will (4) lead them to careers as independent biomedical research scientists or faculty members at a University in the U.S. where they will do biomedical research. The success of IUSOM IMGSD achieving its goals is based upon the theory that minority students with sufficient financial support, rigorous curricula, strong research experiences and multi-tiered mentors will complete their Ph.D. degrees and pursue careers as independent academic biomedical research scientists/faculty members.