The Cancer Research Scholars Program (CRSP): Exploring Research Across the Cancer Continuum and into Underserved Communities

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Abstract / Summary Cancer is among the leading causes of death in the United States. Lack of access to advances in cancer prevention, early screening, and treatment, particularly in low socioeconomic, underserved communities, are cited as substantial barriers to improving cancer survivorship. Public health experts have indicated that the social environment in which people live, learn, work, and play also contributes to notable cancer health inequities and is among the most important determinants of health throughout life. Overcoming the growing complexity of this problem will require a much larger, diverse, and dedicated workforce. The current pipeline of cancer-focused health care professionals and researchers that understand and manage the impact of these determinants of health and appropriately engage and connect with their target communities and patient populations is dangerously inadequate and likely to widen the gap even further. To address this critical need to expand our future culturally competent, cancer-focused workforce, the University of Cincinnati (UC) and its affiliates collectively seek to establish and support a Cancer Research Scholars Program (CRSP). Our focus will be on creating unique and inspiring research and educational experiences to qualified undergraduate students of all races and backgrounds from across the nation and to implement a program that greatly increases the number of graduate program matriculants. Important to our success will be CRSP's highly-engaged Cancer Mentor Network (CMN). We are adopting a systems-over-silos approach (i.e., an approach that crosses health care professions and covers the entire spectrum of cancer care built around the CMN including faculty from across the UC Cancer Center and residing at both UC and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Our faculty are focused on topics across the cancer continuum including cancer etiology, prevention/screening/health promotion, clinical cancer research and survivorship. To ensure our Scholars' success, we will: (1) proactively recruit 20-22 outstanding summer scholars, including at least 8 underrepresented minorities, with an interest in cancer research with the established infrastructure of our highly successful Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program; (2) provide training in the essentials of research (e.g., responsible conduct of research, research design, analysis, etc.), the fundamentals of cancer research across the continuum and an understanding of social determinants of health and their impact on cancer inequities; (3) offer research experiences in top-notch cancer laboratories that closely match the Scholars' career interests; (4) actively engage them in a supportive and enthusiastic environment in which they interact professionally and socially with other Scholars, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and junior and senior faculty; (5) provide innovative education that strengthens academic and professional development to facilitate entry into cancer graduate programs and cancer career pathways; (6) deliver team science, cultural competency, micro-aggression and implicit bias training for the entire CRSP/CMN community; (7) offer community-engaged, immersive, and cancer-focused field experiences to our Scholars and CMN to encourage future community-engaged research, education and outreach; and (8) ensure long-term investment in each Scholar that extends beyond the initial proposed summer funding period. We expect that our program will, if successful, have a payoff of decades of enthusiastic and dedicated cancer researchers for generations to come.