During Andrew Tobey’s time at the National Institute of Health (NIH) doing research on thyroid cancer, he started to question why he was the only Native American there.
“Why are more of us not here?” Tobey, ΒιΆΉΣ³» INBRE Tribal Academy of Health and Science coordinator, said. “I did meet other Natives at NIH, but it was few and far between.”
Tobey said that there is difficulty with Native Americans in the state wanting to attend higher education, and the ones who do attend are having difficulties being successful through it. He noted that, based on his own, soon-to-be-published research, there are about 32,000 Native Americans in ΒιΆΉΣ³». Of the total population, only approximately 0.5% end up in higher education. Of that 0.5%, only 13% will end up with a degree within the next six years.
Tobey started the Tribal Academy at the ΒιΆΉΣ³» two and a half years ago, as a part of ΒιΆΉΣ³» IDeA Network for Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), helping Native American high school and college students through the process of education and career development in science and medical fields.
INBRE is a program funded by NIH to help traditionally underfunded states build biomedical research and opportunities. NIH’s main mission is to increase the biomedical infrastructure in the United States by helping more individuals get involved in science and medicine.
Currently, the Tribal Academy serves University students majoring in a degree in a biomedical, bioscience and/or healthcare field, and serves 18% of students using the Native American Fee Waiver. Since its inception, the academy is estimated to have a 96% student retention rate.
The academy supports students through their academic and career goals. Tobey works directly with students in weekly one-on-one meetings, mainly focusing on the position they want to achieve once they graduate, and encouraging them to do something they are excited about.
“When Monday comes, you should be really excited that the week is starting,” he said. “You should be engaged in your work and driven to be a part of it.”
In addition, the academy helps connect students with people in their field of interest, find internships, schedule classes and more. Every student is viewed as an individual, Tobey says, understanding that each one will have different goals and circumstances.
“A lot of our students have complicated situations like having to work a full-time job to support themselves,” he said. “You want to get to know your students. You want to know them as people. You want to know what interests them and what makes them want to be engaged, then help steer them through the system. We always tell them that college isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon.”
As of now, an academy member must be taking a class at the University or Truckee Meadows Community College to enroll. In addition, students must maintain eligibility for the Native American Fee Waiver program. Students who fall below a 2.0 GPA may lose the fee waiver. Tobey said that sometimes life gets in the way and things just don’t work out. As long as a student wants to get a higher education, the academy will continue to work with the student to help them regain the fee waiver for up to a year after its loss.
“Outside of being officially a part of the program, any tribal student is always welcome to reach out to the Tribal Academy to get feedback and advice or assistance,” he added.
Tobey has also met a lot of tribal students who want a program like this but said many aren’t studying something in the biomedical or bioscience field.
Starting this spring, with new funding coming from the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s recently awarded ΒιΆΉΣ³» Tech Hub, the program will now be able to support students on the Native American Fee Waiver working towards any degree at the University.
NIH will continue to help cover biomedical expenses while funding from the Tech Hub will cover new program costs at the University.
The upcoming expansion of the Tribal Academy means that it will actively be recruiting and hiring three people early next year to work as full-time Tribal Academy Coordinators. These coordinators will engage in personal meetings with students and make sure they get the support they need.
“We have a lot of engineers, scientists, nurses, philosophers, physicians and historians in our culture, in every culture, you have those types of people. Sometimes they just might not know who they are yet,” Tobey said.
Tobey hopes to extend the academy to other institutions in the state in the near future.
If you have any questions or would like to inquire about applying to the INBRE Tribal Academy of Health and Science, please reach out to Andrew Tobey at atobey@med.unr.edu.
