Outreach Core

总结：外展核心

SUMMARY: OUTREACH CORE The goals of the scientific portion of this proposal are directed towards bringing personalized medicine to the clinic for glioblastoma patients through integrative mathematical methods. Effectively bringing computational results into the clinic requires a broader understanding of the methods and general principles by scientists, clinicians, and patients alike. More scientists need to be aware of these non-traditional techniques in order to build additional models and enhance methodology for the clinic. Interpretation of model output for use in therapy will require clinicians to have a solid understanding of a given model’s strengths and limitations. Also, for patients to choose and feel confident in therapies directed by these techniques, they will require a broader awareness of the existence, potential benefit, and value of these therapies. The primary goal of the Outreach Core is to disseminate knowledge of mathematical oncology and cancer systems biology to students, colleagues, and the general public. To accomplish our goal, we will strive to appeal to each target group through the following: Training new cross-disciplinary scientists. We will recruit undergraduate and graduate students along with postdoctoral trainees at our various institutions, providing them with opportunities for research and improving cross-disciplinary understanding. For undergraduates, this will take the form of internships, senior thesis projects and summer research experiences. For graduate students and postdoctoral trainees, this will take the form of longer-term research projects possibly culminating in master’s thesis and/or doctoral dissertation projects. Inform the research community. Beyond presenting our work at conferences targeting many different audiences, we will design conferences and workshops to attract clinicians and research scientists from multiple disciplines to inspire and update them about emerging research at the interface of oncology, mathematical modeling, and imaging. Engage with the general public. We will develop an online, easily accessible presence by creating a website and using social networking platforms including Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. We will work with Mayo Clinic patient advocacy groups to engage brain tumor patients and their families by hosting informational workshops for brain tumor advocacy groups in our PNT lab at Mayo Clinic. In addition, we will partner with the Mayo Clinic Cancer Education Center to host the general public through evening and weekend workshops designed for a lay audience. Outcome assessment We will assess the success of our outreach efforts across each sphere of influence.