Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination

Abstract Cancer Research Training & Education Coordination (CRTEC) The City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center (COHCCC) is committed to the education and training of the next generation of staff, clinicians, and researchers beginning in grade school and continuing through postdoctoral training. Cancer Research Training & Education Coordination (CRTEC) is directed by Joanne MortimerCI, MD, drawing on the expertise and resources of the Education and Training Council (ETC), which consists of 35 institutional leaders who represent training initiatives across the campus and community. The ETC meets monthly and provides oversight for developing new educational courses, coordinating cancer-related education across COH, fostering the career development of our trainees and faculty, evaluating the efficacy of our educational programs, and ensuring that training in core competencies is provided. Dr. MortimerCI, together with the ETC has established an Office of Mentorship and recruited Carlotta GlackinMCBC, PhD, to oversee mentorship alignment across COHCCC. The institutional and CCSG leadership are dedicated to investing in training and developing a diverse workforce; establishing an exceptional environment to facilitate and accelerate transformative discoveries; developing and applying resources for faculty, staff, and students to ensure academic success; and centralizing on-going training initiatives for researchers, clinicians, and staff. In the current funding climate, newer faculty need additional training to become more independent researchers, and the COHCCC is committed to supporting training opportunities through special seminars and workshops, as well as travel funds for trainees to attend and present at national meetings. Over the past funding cycle, CRTEC has coordinated programs that serve learners from all stages of training and diverse backgrounds. High school and undergraduate students received intensive research experiences through the Eugene & Ruth Roberts Summer Academy (established in 1960) and now supported by the TEAMS Stem Cell Biology program, and also from a YES2SUCCESS (R25CA233431) program focusing on multidisciplinary training of students from under- represented groups (URG). For undergraduate/graduate learners, we offer the CIRM Bridges and Stem Cell Biology programs, the TGen Scholars Program, an existing postdoctoral training program (T32CA186895) which focuses on DNA damage response and oncogenic and signaling, and a newly awarded T32CA221709 in Cancer Metabolism. Early-stage investigators (ESI) are the focus of the Paul Calabresi Career Development Award for Clinical Oncology (K12CA001727: PI J. MortimerCI), which sponsors the Clinical Investigator Training Program (CITP) to ensure rigorous education in clinical/translational research. CITP courses are available online or in- person to all City of Hope investigators, and many ESI and postdoctoral fellows from basic/translational labs also participate. Four NCI-funded R25 grants continue to provide training opportunities for regional and national physicians and allied health professionals. COHCCC has demonstrated its commitment to education and training through the judicious use of $3.9 million in peer-reviewed funding.