Pathways to Cancer Research Renewal

Pathways to Cancer Research Renewal (“Pathways Renewal”) is a continuation of the Pathways to Cancer Research grant (R25 CA221770) awarded to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (“Fred Hutch”) in Seattle, Washington. This renewal supports the goals of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Cancer Institute (NCI) to increase student interest in biomedical research and expand pathways into the cancer research workforce. Pathways Renewal focuses on two areas identified through student feedback and NCI strategic priorities: computational biology and research on cancer-related health outcomes. This proposal builds on the foundation of prior NCI-supported science education efforts through the YES R25 mechanism. It strengthens existing Pathways programs for high school and undergraduate students and secondary educators while also introducing new virtual components piloted during the pandemic. These include a virtual high school outreach program that uses computational tools to explore cancer datasets and a school-year academic research internship. This proposal aims to: Provide multi-year mentored research experiences to secondary science teachers through the Hutch Teacher Fellowship, supporting the development of cancer-related curriculum materials. Expand our Explorers and Coding for Cancer introductory outreach programs to increase student interest in cancer research and computational biology. Integrate opportunities for computational analysis and community-engaged research into the Explorers Virtual School-Year Internship and Pathways Undergraduate Researchers multi-year mentored research experiences. All Pathways programs emphasize the development of scientific skills, confidence in research environments, and the ability to communicate science with peers, families, and local communities. This work leverages the strong institutional support for science education at Fred Hutch, our experienced education staff and faculty, and our long-standing commitment to preparing students for careers in cancer research.