Recruiting, retaining, and maintaining racial and ethnic minority investigators: why we should bother, why we should care.

The author reflects on the importance of recruiting, retaining and maintaining racial and ethnic minority researchers. She suggests that racial and ethnic minorities face barriers at the formative stages of their higher education. She argues that people in academic institutions are the bearers of the torch of knowledge and need to ensure that it is passed on without regard to race, creed, nationality or sexual orientation.