Prevention And Control of Cancer: Training for Change in Individuals and Systems

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ABSTRACT This application is a competitive renewal of the NCI-funded Implementation Science training program led by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, entitled “PRACCTIS” (Prevention and Control of Cancer: Training for change in Individuals and Systems). Initially funded in 2014, through the R25t mechanism, we seek to extend this successful program as an NCI-funded T32 training program. With renewed funding, our mission, to train the next generation of researchers in the conduct of research that addresses gaps in the translation of evidence-based cancer prevention and control into practice in Massachusetts and nationally, will continue. We accomplish this mission by working toward three overarching programmatic goals: 1) To promote the development of independent cancer prevention and control implementation scientists through educational curricula, enrichment opportunities, and mentored research experiences that are personalized to each trainee and conducted in collaboration with a diverse range of clinical and community partners; 2) To identify effective program components and implement program improvements through a continuous program monitoring and evaluation; and 3) To broadly advance training in the field of implementation science through program evaluation and dissemination of innovative program components and best practices. The proposed T32 program leverages and expands the existing training infrastructure developed in the previous funding cycle, including structured courses in implementation science, enrichment opportunities, team science-oriented mentoring, and a rigorous program monitoring and evaluation plan. We will also continue to emphasize stakeholder-engaged research conducted in collaboration with local clinical and community settings that deliver cancer prevention and control treatments and interventions. Driven by our rigorous program evaluation, our program will be enhanced in this competitive renewal in important ways. First we will create personalized training pathways in areas critical areas of implementation research identified as priorities by trainees in our previous cycle as well as in the field at-large. These pathways are in the areas of health informatics, health communications and interventions in low resource settings. Second, to bring additional faculty expertise in these areas, we have extended our pool of mentors to include experts from local institutions with successful histories of collaboration, including UMass Boston, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, UMass-Baystate and the Bedford and Boston campuses of the Veterans Health Administration. Relationships with mentors from these campuses were initiated in our previous funding cycle and will be formalized in this competitive renewal. We will additionally extend PRACCTIS to include both pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees. PRACCTIS will recruit 10 post-doctoral and 3 pre-doctoral trainees over the next five year funding period, thus producing a cadre of independent investigators who address gaps in the translation of evidence-based cancer prevention and control treatments and interventions into practice.