Universities Target American Indians for Diabetes Study, Encourage Minority Students To Obtain, Science, Medical Careers

• University of Oklahoma: The university's Health Sciences Center has worked closely with the Absentee Shawnee, Chickasaw and Choctaw American Indian tribes in the state to encourage participation in the national Treatment Options for Type 2 Diabetes in Adolescents and Youth study, the Oklahoman reports. American Indians make up 40% of participants in the university's study, and the university has enrolled more participants than any of the study's 12 other sites (Raymond, Oklahoman, 3/16).
  
  
• Xavier University of Louisiana: Xavier on Wednesday began a three-day symposium -- sponsored by the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools -- that seeks to encourage students to pursue careers in the biomedicine and health care fields, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Roughly 600 students from across the nation were expected to participate in the symposium, which will include sessions with experts in each field, as well as a health profession and career development fair (Pope, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 3/17).