Sexual and Gender Minority Cancer Curricular Advances for Research and Education (SGM Cancer CARE)

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A health workforce trained to conduct sexual and gender minority (SGM)-inclusive cancer research is needed for SGM persons seeking comprehensive cancer care, including prevention, screening, treatment, and survivorship care. Research on SGM populations has described many SGM cancer disparities. A growing number of studies of SGM individuals have documented increased exposure to cancer risk factors and certain cancers, as well as poorer cancer outcomes. Moreover, SGM groups are highly diverse, presenting with unique and varied care needs. Although the body of research focused on SGM populations continues to grow, gaps persist in the knowledge of specific SGM cancer risk factors and cancer treatment experiences critical for developing evidence-based interventions to optimize oncology care across the cancer care continuum—from prevention to survivorship. As no nationally available resource routinely trains and prepares the oncology and biomedical workforce for SGM cancer research, our short-term goal is to establish and promote a foundational curriculum, SGM Cancer CARE (Sexual and Gender Minority Cancer Curricular Advances for Research and Education), that recruits and orients early-career and junior investigators to SGM cancer research and fosters productive collaborations. The curriculum has been designed by a multi- disciplinary, multi-institutional project team and expert advisory committee that bring national perspective and experience with SGM populations and in-depth knowledge across key areas, including cancer research, clinical care, curriculum development, and health care advocacy. Specific Aims: (1) Offer the SGM Cancer CARE course annually to 30 early-career investigators recruited nationally from a broad audience of professionals interested in SGM cancer research using a specialized curriculum, multimodal delivery strategies, networking tools, and innovative teaching methods; (2) Facilitate professional development and research success for participants by providing orientation and post-workshop seminars to complement the SGM Cancer CARE course. These sessions will focus on new topics in under-studied areas of SGM cancer research, as well as provide participants with exposure to potential SGM research mentors and career development guidance; and (3) maximize the efficacy of the course by evaluating and updating curricular enhancements and teaching innovations for multimodal dissemination. Core modules include clinical cancer research, behavioral sciences and interventions, epidemiology and population-level research, community- based participatory approach for SGM cancer research, data collection and mHealth/eHealth platforms, and advancing SGM research(ers). This course design will be adaptable for in-person modality, blended learning, and/or online-only formats in response to the research and education restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The long-term goal of the SGM Cancer CARE course is to increase the number of professionals able to lead and advocate for research to reduce SGM cancer disparities and to advance SGM health equity.