MSK Paul Calabresi Career Development Award for Clinical Oncology

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This is a renewal K12 application for the Paul Calabresi Career Development Award for Clinical Oncology to continue a training program for clinical translational research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). Over the first and second funding periods of our K12 program we have established and executed a uniquely universal training program which extends to all MSK departments engaged in cancer research. The program solicits applications from senior fellows moving into junior faculty positions and junior faculty within the first 3 years of their appointments at MSK. This program provides 3 years funding to selected MD, DO, MD/PhD and DO/PhD scholars, and aims to help scholars transition into becoming independent clinical and translational investigators. In the first two funding periods, MSK has trained 30 K12 scholars with an additional 4 set to onboard on September 1, 2024. Applications for this program will be reviewed by experts in the field both from within and outside of MSK. Reviewed applications are further evaluated by the K12 internal Advisory Committee (AC) which will select the 3-4 best applicants annually. Additional matching institutional funding has allowed and will continue to allow the program to support a maximum of 4 new scholars annually with up to 12 scholars funded at any given time during the funding period. Selected applicants will subsequently be evaluated by an established K12 Educational Committee (EC) who will track the progress of each selected candidate through the program and curriculum. This curriculum will include a pre-established core curriculum built around the Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Cancer Research with additional elective courses derived from available courses offered by the Louis V. Gerstner Graduate School of Biomedical Science. Through written questionnaires K12 scholars will be asked to review the program and provide a progress report annually. To further assess the progress and function of the K12 program, scholars will provide written evaluations of their mentors as will mentors provide written evaluations of the scholar’s progression on an annual basis. Collectively these written evaluations will be utilized by the K12 program to assess the scholar’s progress, the mentor’s fitness, and the overall performance of the program. The program and scholar progress will be evaluated annually by the K12 AC as well as the External Advisory Committee (EAC), which will include one EAC visit during the annual K12 research symposium.