Xavier's RCMI Cancer Research Program

在过去的十年中，路易斯安那州泽维尔大学开始了一项雄心勃勃的战略计划，以提高其在生物医学领域的研究竞争力。我们的长期目标是，在未来的5到7年里，我们不仅要在非裔美国人科学、医学预科和药学专业的毕业生方面取得卓越成就，还要在癌症研究方面取得全国的卓越成就。自2002年以来，尽管卡特里娜飓风带来了巨大的破坏，但泽维尔通过建立2002年启动的少数民族健康差异中心，以及成为路易斯安那癌症研究联盟的成员，在实现这一目标方面取得了重大进展。泽维尔大学的研究人员已经获得了来自美国国立卫生研究院、国防部、国家癌症研究所和路易斯安那州校务委员会等机构的大量外部癌症研究资金。为了确定在上述进展的基础上需要采取哪些下一步措施，并将泽维尔大学“提升到一个新的水平”，在各种外部顾问的帮助下，通过教职员工调查、焦点小组和论坛，开展了一个全面的RCMI规划过程。因此，在征聘和留住具有研究竞争力的教员、为生物医学研究提供基础设施支助以及缺乏配备辅助人员的中央核心实验室等领域，确定了影响竞争力的障碍和克服这些障碍的战略。为了解决这些障碍，该提案要求提供资金来帮助Xavier:(1)增加癌症研究人员的数量和质量，并为他们提供启动包、发布时间和指导机会；2)通过为发展项目提供种子资金，增加专业发展机会，增加博士后和研究人员的机会，提高现有研究人员和项目的竞争力；(3)开发3个研究仪器核心；(4)提供加强的行政服务，以确保研究支援活动符合教员的需要；(5)支持选定的试点项目，以协助处于全面竞争“风口”的研究人员。

In the past decade, Xavier University of Louisiana has embarked on an ambitious, strategic initiative to enhance its research competitiveness in biomedical fields. Our long term goal is to, in the next 5 to 7 years, be seen nationally not only for our eminence in graduating African American science, pre-med and pharmacy students, but also for national prominence in cancer research. Since 2002, in spite of the destruction rendered by Katrina, Xavier has made significant advances toward achieving this goal through the establishment of both the Center for Minority Health Disparities, launched in 2002, and through membership in the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium. Xavier researchers have received significant external funding for cancer research from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, National Cancer Institute, and Louisiana Board of Regents, among others. To determine what next steps needed to be taken to build on the above-described progress and take Xavier "to the next level," a comprehensive RCMI planning process was carried out through faculty and staff surveys, focus groups, and forums, with the assistance of a variety of external advisors. As a result, barriers to competitiveness and strategies to overcoming them were identified in such areas as recruiting and retaining research competitive faculty, infrastructural support for biomedical research, and lack of centralized core laboratories with supporting staff. To address these barriers, this proposal requests funding to assist Xavier in: (1) increasing the number and quality of Cancer researchers and providing them with start-up packages, release time, and mentoring opportunities; 2) enhancing the competitiveness of existing research faculty and programs by providing seed funding for developmental projects, enhanced professional development opportunities and increased access to postdoctoral associates and research staff; (3) developing three research instrumentation cores; (4) offering enhanced administrative services to assure research support activities meet faculty needs, and (5) supporting selected pilot projects that will assist investigators who are at the "cusp" of becoming fully competitive.