Developmental and Mentoring Core

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ABSTRACT: DEVELOPMENTAL CORE The UNC-Malawi-South Africa Cancer Consortium (UMSACC) seeks to train the next generation of practitioners and leaders to conduct high-impact research on HIV-Associated malignancies in low- and middle- income country (LMIC) settings. Our proposed Developmental and Mentoring Core (Developmental Core) will be embedded within the existing, highly successful, NIH-supported research training infrastructure that UNC has established with LMIC partners in Malawi and South Africa over the past two decades. Despite our many training successes, a central problem for investigators in LMIC settings is the lack of dedicated career development support and protected time to conduct research and compete for independent funding. We propose to address this problem through a comprehensive approach to training and mentoring early-career cancer researchers. First, we will create a strong mentorship program to support the development of at least nine African and U.S. investigators. Mentorship will focus on design and implementation of hypothesis-driven research, manuscript writing, and development of grants. Second, we will leverage ongoing leadership development programs in Malawi and South Africa to develop a strong pool of research supervisors/mentors for medical and public health trainees. Third, we will provide at least 15 mentored research grants to promising African and U.S. investigators to support hypothesis-driven research projects and/or obtain preliminary data for larger grant applications related to HIV-associated malignancies.