Research Training for Cancer Epidemiology & Biostatistics in China

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Following the rapid economic development and the severe environmental deterioration during the past three decades, human cancer risk has been increasing rapidly in China. Cancer now is the number one killer in China and the costs for cancer treatment in 2006 reached more than 20% of the annual total medical costs in China, and this number is actually considered to be seriously underestimated. Facing the grave consequence of the ever increasing cancer burden in China; realizing that nationwide deterioration in environmental conditions and human health could jeopardize the economic development, the Chinese government has taken major steps to prevent and control cancer. China, however, faces many challenges in confronting and battling the war against cancer. One of the major shortcomings for cancer prevention and control in China today is the severe lack of well-trained personnel in all major areas of cancer studies. The primary goal of this application is to secure the resources necessary to build a center of excellence in research and teaching in cancer studies within the Cancer Institute, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CI-CAMS, the designated China National Cancer Center), which is mandated by the central government to be responsible for China's cancer prevention and control. The resources will be used to (1) train scientists urgently needed in the CI-CAMS to develop appropriate strategies to better understand and more effectively respond to the emerging threat from the increasing cancer burden in China; (2) build an infrastructure that will allow CI-CAMS to function as a national center for teaching and research in cancer-related studies; and (3) strengthen China's National Cancer Registration Office to function as a national center of excellence for coordinating and monitoring China's cancer registration. The training goals will be achieved through trainees, selected from faculty and existing pre/post-doctoral programs at CI-CAMS, who will receive education and mentoring at Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) through long-term/intermediate/short-term training or workshops and internet-based tutorial system. The training will emphasize principles and methods in major areas of cancer epidemiology and biostatistics. This training program will be administered by a Program Faculty with representation from both CI-CAMS and Yale University. Yale University, YSPH in particular, has a strong history of prior research and training collaborations with China. We anticipate that trainees of this program will be uniquely qualified to be future leaders in the field of cancer research in China. RELEVANCE (See instructions):