Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination

SUMMARY: CANCER RESEARCH TRAINING AND EDUCATION COORDINATION (CRTEC) The Dartmouth Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC) is led by Steven Fiering, PhDICI, and provides cancer research training, experience, and education across the learner spectrum. DCC prioritizes and invests heavily in CRTEC efforts, which serve high-school students, undergraduates, graduate students, medical students, postdocs, fellows, faculty (focusing on early-career faculty), and general community members. CRTEC efforts include both programs administered by CRTEC (CRTEC Administered) and programs administered by partners (CRTEC Partnered), for which DCC CRTEC provides additional coordination, expertise or funding support. CRTEC Administered programs are cancer-focused, while CRTEC Partnered programs are either cancer-focused or cancer-relevant. Dartmouth’s Center for Program Design and Evaluation performs formative and summative evaluations of major CRTEC Administered programs, and CRTEC’s Track Research Activities in Cancer for Evaluation (TRACE) database tracks program outcomes and career development of participants. For CRTEC Partnered programs, CRTEC partners evaluate and track the outcomes of the program they administer. CRTEC programs engage participants across Dartmouth and its various schools, particularly the Geisel School of Medicine, Thayer School of Engineering, and Dartmouth Health (DH). CRTEC’s impact also extends well beyond Dartmouth and DH, through catchment area partnerships, New Hampshire’s NIH-funded IDeA Network of Biological Research Excellence (NH-INBRE), the New Hampshire Academy of Science, and three Science Education Partnership Awards (SEPAs) awarded to different local organizations. CRTEC prioritizes programs that create synergies that support DCC and add value for multiple groups and/or DCC program areas. Because many of CRTEC’s programs overlap with their focus areas, CRTEC regularly meets and works with the DCC’s Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) office. CRTEC financial support comes from the CCSG, other NCI grants (e.g. R25CA250956, PI Dr. Fiering), DCC discretionary funds, and philanthropy linked directly to individual CRTEC programs. CRTEC receives full-time effort from Benjamin Koziol, MEd, an experienced educational program manager recently recruited from the University of Colorado Denver, and 20% effort from Dr. Fiering. The CRTEC program portfolio has had significant investment and expansion since the prior 2019 CCSG renewal, and most of the portfolio was established within the last five years. To continue this growth and meet DCC’s training, education, and coordination needs, CRTEC proposes three specific aims: 1) Administer cancer-focused education and training programs; 2) Coordinate cancer-related CRTEC partnered programs; and 3) Evaluate CRTEC impact and implement future plans.