Dartmouth Training Program in Quantitative Cancer Research

ABSTRACT Continued support is requested for a multidisciplinary Dartmouth Training Program in Quantitative Cancer Research (TQCR). The TQCR Program seeks to provide cross-training in quantitative, computational, and biomedical sciences to prepare students for the emergent cancer research landscape that is increasingly characterized by complex problems, big data, and multidisciplinary teams. At Dartmouth, the TQCR Program will enlist graduate student trainees from different academic backgrounds, including computer science, mathematics, biology, chemistry, and engineering who are committed to cancer-centered research activities with a strong quantitative component. These graduate student candidates for TQCR support will be recruited broadly from cancer-focused research laboratories across four graduate programs at Dartmouth: The Geisel School of Medicine’s Molecular & Cellular Biology and Quantitative Biomedical Sciences PhD Programs, The Thayer School of Engineering’s PhD program, and The School of Arts and Sciences Computer Science PhD Program. Faculty mentors include quantitative scientists with significant extramural funding and a strong track records of graduate training experience and biomedical research. Research areas of the faculty include quantitative methodology and scientific applications in bioinformatics, biostatistics, computer science, computational biology, genomics, and epidemiology. Selected TQCR students will engage in a cancer-specific, quantitative curriculum that includes courses in computer science, bioinformatics, biostatistics, epidemiology, cancer biology and integrative biomedical sciences, exposing them to both interdisciplinary research and quantitative methodology development over the course of a 2-year fellowship period. This reflects our institution’s long history of exceptionally strong cancer research and clinical programs, largely based on the success of our comprehensive, NCI-designated Norris Cotton Cancer Center. It is our vision that the next generation of quantitative researchers requires comprehensive interdisciplinary training to contribute meaningfully to future progress in understanding, preventing, and treating cancer.