Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The Markey Cancer Center (MCC) at the University of Kentucky collectively delivers highly successful training programs spanning from K-12 to faculty level through the Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC) component. MCC’s CRTEC programs and activities are structured around specific aims to: 1) Generate early interest in cancer-related careers, emphasizing those underrepresented in science; 2) Promote education and career development of a diverse cadre of graduate and postdoctoral cancer researchers; and 3) Foster research faculty career development in basic, population and clinical/translational sciences. Key education activities address the academic challenges across medically and educationally underserved rural Appalachian Kentucky and for underrepresented minorities through support from five grants that include an NCI Youth Enjoy Science R25 program. These efforts complement impactful structured academic and research training at the graduate, postdoctoral and medical residency levels, including three NCI-funded T32 training grants. Through new initiatives such as the recently funded NCI T32 focused on health equities and undergraduate research programs targeting underrepresented and underserved populations, MCC’s CRTEC component expands its comprehensive training reach to implement bold diversity initiatives that complement well-established and emerging state-of-the-art cancer curricula and enrich MCC Research Programs. The establishment of sustainable NIH-funded Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence awards with dedicated cancer themes and associated junior faculty mentorship augment MCC’s long-standing American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant support for early-stage faculty and effective team-based faculty mentorship mechanisms across basic, population and clinical research levels that are significantly expanding MCC’s extramural funding base. Further targeted mentorship of early career clinical investigators through mechanisms such as the Clinical Trials Boot Camp fosters the development of investigator-initiated trials that translate MCC science to the clinic. The MCC Affiliate Network provides an effective conduit for multi-faceted statewide training of health care professionals in state-of-the-art cancer care, which is needed to address the tremendous cancer burden within Kentucky and the region. A rich cadre of seminars, symposia, meetings and career enrichment activities facilitate successful career development for all individuals engaged in cancer research and clinical practice. The MCC’s collective efforts draw on vital institutional training resources to achieve the overarching goals of this program, which are to guide cohesive growth and coordinate transdisciplinary education and mentoring endeavors across the MCC and integrate them with efforts campus-wide and nationally. Through coordination supported by MCC’s Cancer Center Support Grant, this comprehensive program will continue to evolve innovative curricula and strategically linked initiatives to prepare trainees and faculty for evolving cancer career opportunities.