Moffitt Postdoctoral Training Program in Molecular Epidemiology



 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal is a competitive renewal application submitted in response to PA-14-015 (NCI Institutional Research Training Grant). In accordance with the program announcement, we seek continued funding for the Moffitt Cancer Center (MCC) Post-Doctoral Training Program in Molecular Epidemiology of Cancer, a program first funded under the R25T mechanism in 2010 that trains postdoctoral candidates in cancer research settings that are highly interdisciplinary and collaborative. Specific aims are to: 1) continue to expand and refine our curriculum-dependent postdoctoral training program in molecular epidemiological research that draws upon the faculty and resources of the MCC and the University of South Florida (USF); 2) recruit a diverse group of promising trainees who are committed to careers as researchers in cancer molecular epidemiology; 3) provide these trainees with the knowledge, skills, opportunities, and mentoring needed to become successful independent investigators in cancer molecular epidemiology. The training program builds on extensive and productive collaborations among researchers with backgrounds in cancer epidemiology, molecular and genetic epidemiology, population science, molecular biology, and medicine. These researchers are all faculty at USF and members of the Cancer Epidemiology Research Program at MCC, which was rated Exceptional at the Center's most recent NCI Cancer Center Support Grant renewal. A key feature of this program has been the development and refinement of a specialized curriculum in cancer molecular epidemiology not otherwise available at our institution that is linked in an essential manner to the program's training goals and objectives. As described in the application, this specialized curriculum consists of a core curriculum required for both first- year and second-year trainees and an elective curriculum, designed to provide individualized training, that is selected by each trainee in consultation with his/her training committee. In our first award cycle, the program was successful in attracting a talented and diverse pool of applicants, recruiting the best applicants from this pool, and providing the recruited trainees with the skills, experiences, and mentoring necessary for becoming successful independent investigators in the field of molecular cancer of epidemiology.