Cancer Research Career Enhancement and Related Activities

Cancer Research Career Enhancement and Related Activities with education as the fourth pillar of its overall mission to End Cancer, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is an accredited, degree-granting institution with numerous efforts in education, training, and career development across the spectrum of cancer research and translation, the science of cancer prevention, and clinical practice. More than 1,700 faculty and 7,000 annually appointed trainees—from high school through research postdoctoral fellows and clinical residents, as well as a community of lifelong learners among our research and administrative staff—take part in a wide array of offerings sponsored by multiple educational stakeholders from across the institution. Our long-term objective is to establish MD Anderson as a model for education and training in cancer research for a multidisciplinary research workforce through dissemination of best practices and organization of innovative, evidence-based curricula designed for 21st- century team-based science and clinical practice. Overall, the uniquely broad and rich environment for clinical and research education and professional development at MD Anderson demands easy access to high-quality resources for its learners, as individuals and as groups; for instructors to develop useful and effective activities in synergy; and for support and evaluation of such programs. With this in mind, our 5-year goals include multiple innovative efforts across all CCSG programs in 4 emphasis areas: 1) developing new, stakeholder-driven approaches to enhance recruitment and training opportunities for individuals from under-resourced communities; 2) facilitating access to research education via improved alignment and increased impact; 3) support applications centralized for access by all programs; and 4) program evaluation services tailored for support and improvement of current and developing efforts to improve mentorship and career development. To achieve our long-term objectives for the MD Anderson Cancer Research Career Enhancement and Related Activities (CRCE), our continuous efforts and coordinating role across the institution in education and training are described by these overall aims: Aim 1: To build a workforce of research scientists that reflects the breadth of the nation’s demographic and experiential backgrounds and who span all stages of training and faculty appointments using multiple rigorous strategies to reach broad audiences; Aim 2: To provide innovative and evidence-based educational and professional development opportunities in a nurturing culture of shared learning that is attuned to the needs of trainees and faculty mentors; and Aim 3: To serve as a coordination and support hub for innovation in education/training, sharing best practices, monitoring research training needs, and program evaluation for MD Anderson researchers, including the community of training programs at MD Anderson.