Creating Scientists to Address Cancer Disparities

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Increasing the number of scientists and clinicians from underrepresented communities has been recognized as one means to help reduce the nation’s cancer disparities. The Creating Scientists to Address Cancer Disparities Program (CSP) is an intensive bio-behavioral science training program designed to facilitate underrepresented community college science majors’ (CSP scholars) successful transfer to UCSD and SDSU followed by their matriculation into graduate school. Transferring students begin the CSP during the summer before they transfer and continue to receive mentoring from CSP faculty throughout the remainder of their college years. The program has basic and behavioral science majors working and learning side-by-side in a public health community-based laboratory as a model of how multidisciplinary teams of bio- behavioral scientists can work together to address cancer disparities. CSP begins with an eight- week public health laboratory-based Summer Science Enrichment Program (SSEP). The SSEP includes seminars to give students a solid understanding of cancer and bio-behavioral issues related to the development of cancer disparities. It also includes workshops to increase participants’ likelihood of successful progression into graduate school and beyond. Students also learn a variety of hands-on research methods to use in the field, as they work within community-campus partnerships. Students prepare and submit a research abstract to present their summer’s research findings at the International Cancer Education Conference. The experience gained submitting abstracts and presenting at a scientific conference will document the knowledge they have gained toward learning how to identify, research, and resolve cancer disparities. This summer training is followed by continued academic mentoring to facilitate students’ matriculation into graduate school. The CSP will make it possible for its transferring students to access programs that are not normally accessible in transferring students’ first year. This community college-focused CSP is grounded upon the literature and the team’s long term experience with programs designed to facilitate community college students’ successful transfer to UCSD and SDSU. The CSP has clearly defined, measurable outcomes for assessing its success, using rigorous data collection and evaluation methods that were previously proven successful.