Diversity-focused Montefiore Einstein Clinical Oncology Training Program in the Bronx

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Project Abstract The goal of Einstein/Montefiore Paul Calabresi Career Development Award for Clinical Oncology and Equity Research is to train the next generation of oncology scholars, with a special emphasis on conducting clinical and translational research in the underserved and diverse Bronx catchment area. This will be achieved through a coordinated program of mentoring, a comprehensive formal curriculum, and research projects with an interdisciplinary, collaborative design with focus on community outreach and engagement. The program, its leadership and participants are integrated within the established research programs of the NCI-designated Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center (AECC). The Calabresi Program will select highly qualified clinical and translational investigators from all oncology disciplines, from a diverse group of primarily MDs, but also PhDs, who are committed to careers in patient-oriented clinical and translational research with a focus on diverse populations. The duration of the training is 2 to 3 years and funding for 4 scholars is requested. The research focus is being expanded beyond cancer therapeutics to include cancer care delivery relevant to the Bronx population, which is 70% URM’s. A formal curriculum has been developed in conjunction with Einstein’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) featuring an MS degree in Clinical Research Methods and includes two mandatory Calabresi-centered courses, one on “Clinical Trial Development in the Era of Personalized Cancer Medicine and Immunotherapy”, and another on “Comparative Effectiveness Therapeutic Research”. Additional courses and workshops are offered in Biostatistics and Grant writing. The Principal Investigators are Dr. Amit Verma, M.D., Director of the Division of Hemato-Oncology, and Dr. Yvonne Saenger, MD, Director of the Immunotherapy program and Coleader of Experimental Therapeutics. Both PIs bring complementary expertise in both liquid and solid tumors and also a track-recordin basic/translational and clinical research, as well as in mentoring junior clinical investigators. An Executive Committee of senior faculty leaders provide oversight in the selection and ongoing evaluation of the progress of the Scholars and the impact of the program. An Internal Advisory Board (IAB) chaired by cancer center director, Dr. Edward Chu, and an External Advisory Board with K12 PIs will provide guidance and direction to the Calabresi program. Novel initiatives are planned to increase the recruitment of URM candidates. Strong institutional support from the Medical College, Cancer Center and Montefiorehas resultedin salary support of numerous scholars. Since inception, the Program has enrolled 24 Scholars (3 URMs): with 22 remaining committed to academic careers in leadership positions in oncology. A successful track record of high impact publications, especially in fields of minority outcomes in diverse populations of the Bronx is evidence of uniqueness of the proposed training program. Our proposed K12 training grant will train the next generation of oncology clinical researchers on unique challenges of conducting successful clinical trials in underserved minority populations, using the Bronx as a model ecosystem.