Yale Head and Neck Cancer SPORE Career Enhancement Program

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SUMMARY A critical element to ensure new advances that translate research from bench to bedside in head and neck cancer is to attract, foster and support new investigators in this area. The Career Enhancement Program (CEP) of the Yale Head and Neck SPORE has this as its core goal. The communities of Yale, University of North Carolina and Fox Chase Cancer Center provide an ideal environment to promote this program. Each institution is strongly committed to promoting basic, translational and clinical cancer research. There is an exceptional pool of junior faculty, fellows and established investigators with outstanding potential to advance translational head and neck cancer research, plus a dedicated cohort of established head and neck investigators to serve as mentors and collaborators. To ensure that there will be a pipeline of new, improved and much needed therapies to offer to head and neck cancer patients, it is essential to increase the workforce of translational researchers who are driven to gain greater understanding of this disease and motivated to develop new treatments to reduce head and neck cancer morbidity and mortality. To achieve this the specific aims of the CEP are (1) to identify, support and mentor promising early career basics and translational investigators to work in head and neck cancer, (2) to enhance the careers of established investigators who have newly-defined interest in pursuing translational research in head and neck cancer, and (3) to contribute to the development of a diverse head and neck cancer translational work force. This is of particular importance for a cancer which disproportionately burdens communities of color, such as those in the communities surrounding our cancer centers in New Haven, Chapel Hill and Philadelphia. The CEP will support up to four awardees per year who will receive up to $50,000 per year to support their research career enhancement activities. These awardees will be drawn for the Yale, UNC and FCCC communities, selected through a careful and well-defined process, and supported by the expertise and resources of the YHN-SPORE community. These CEP awardees will go on to take their place in the next generation of physician scientists and translational researchers dedicated to address the most urgent issues in head and neck cancer.