Cancer Research Career Enhancement and Related Activities

The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center has a long history of successful training programs and other mentoring, career enhancement and educational activities, across the continuum of career stages. These include: pre-college and undergraduate students, pre- and post-doctoral fellows, junior faculty and rising senior faculty, health care and biomedical research professionals and UNC Lineberger research staff and administrators. Since its inception, the Cancer Research Career Enhancement (CRCE) Core has focused on integrating these current UNC Lineberger activities and strengths in cancer research career enhancement and addressing gaps in the training portfolio. Led by faculty and staff with extensive training, mentorship, research and leadership experience, the Core is well equipped to meet the evolving needs of a large, varied and dynamic Cancer Center. The specific activities offered by the CRCE include: 1) Identifying, integrating, and organizing resources for cancer-related education, training, and career development; 2) Promoting cancer research education and training for our professional degree candidates and post-graduate trainees; 3) Providing training, development, and continuing education opportunities for faculty of all stages; and 4) Stimulating excitement and interest in cancer research through educational outreach to the broader non-cancer community. The CRCE promotes these initiatives through efforts such as: the UNC Lineberger-NC School of Math and Science pre-college cancer research program; UNC Lineberger undergraduate cancer research training including an NCI-funded partnership with nearby North Carolina Central University; engagement with the North Carolina Community College system for cancer education/training; multiple NCI T32 training programs for pre- and post-doctoral fellows; the Lineberger-Lauterborn Nursing Oncology Fellowship program; the Junior Faculty Career Development Group; and multiple meetings and events that add value to the UNC Lineberger by facilitating cross-disciplinary collaboration and innovation. These training opportunities have yielded impressive results such as 85% of previous trainees from our UNC Lineberger -North Carolina Central University PARTNERs program attending graduate or medical school. UNC Lineberger total direct costs funding from 67 training awards, including 11 NCI T32 awards, totals $10.7M. Over the next five years, the CRCE will improve or systematize ongoing activities by: broadening our partnership efforts with the UNC Lineberger COE; developing methods for collecting and analyzing outcomes from CRCE programs including longitudinal tracking of all trainees; expanding the NC Community College program; and designing new programs to serve a broader base of CRCE constituents.