PROSTATE NEOPLASM--CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

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Significant advances in the field of prostate caner research have been limited in recent years relative to that of other prevalent cancers mainly because of a dearth of qualified, independently-funded investigators with primary interests in this area. The establishment of SPORE centers of excellence in prostate cancer research have addressed this problem by providing a significant core of physicians and scientists committed to addressing this problem in an interactive and collaborative environment. The two greatest challenges to SPORE centers in the area of cancer development have been 1) to assemble this committed core of investigators from diverse clinical and scientific backgrounds, and to give each member of this core essential background information related to the clinical behavior of prostate cancers and the problems associated with effective management of this disease; and 2) to recruit candidates of unusually high merit to the field of prostate cancer research. The overall goal of our career development program has been to attract highly talented and productive basic and clinical scientists at the postdoctoral level through a national search, and to place these individuals in laboratories taking exciting and imaginative approaches to translational prostate cancer research. During the past 1.5 years, this strategy has brought a wealth of young talent to our institution, and we have used the SPORE Career Development Funds to help attract 45 postdoctoral fellows and 8 new junior faculty members primarily interested in translational prostate cancer research. In addition, the exciting and collaborative intellectual environment generated by our SPORE has attracted 18 established investigators in at least 5 different departments to devote a substantial portion of their research efforts to translational prostate cancer research. Although the availability of SPORE funds for developmental research projects and partial salary support have been useful in attracting both young and established investigators to prostate cancer research, our overall effort in this area has vastly exceeded the direct support provided by the SPORE. We have successfully used SPORE funds to seed recruitment of fellows and junior faculty, and we have leveraged these funds to secure additional support form Baylor College of Medicine, individual departments at the College, and private foundations. Of the total funds expended during the past 2.5 years for hiring and supporting junior faculty and fellows in the area of translational prostate cancer research , more than 80% have come from outside of the SPORE Career Development Program. We estimate that the presence of the prostate SPORE at Baylor College of Medicine has generated an additional 1,000,000.00 per year in Institutional and private foundation support for training fellowships. Over the next five years, we propose to use the strengths of our multi-disciplinary, multi-departmental, and multi-talented SPORE investigators to attract additional fellows, junior faculty, and established investigators to translational prostate cancer research. The vibrant environment surrounding our SPORE conferences, seminars, and research projects should greatly facilitate these efforts.