Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research and Service

The CT UCEDD is a research mentor site for the Health Disparities Clinical Summer Research Fellowship Program, part of UConn School of Medicine’s Health Career Opportunity Program (HCOP). Each summer we mentor 1-2 students on a research project related to health disparities and disability.

The Fellowship Program is part of an initiative to promote diversity in the health professions and offers programs and activities for underrepresented, disadvantaged, and first generation students. The 7-week summer program for rising college sophomores, juniors, seniors, or recent graduates provides a research and enrichment experience and an introduction to health disparities, cross cultural issues, principles of clinical medicine and skills for public health research and interventions working with diverse populations and community settings.

Students present their research findings at a poster session at the end of the summer.

The summer 2020 and 2021 program was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Summer 2018

• Addressing the stigma of an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis in communities of color
• An analysis of healthcare provider competency in healthcare transitions for patients with autism spectrum disorder

Summer 2019

• Health care transition for people with disabilities: CT adult primary care providers’ perspectives