Research and Education Core

Cancer morbidity and mortality has significant adverse economic consequences and costs the U.S. government billions of dollars annually. There is a need for highly trained scientists who are uniquely equipped to study factors that contribute to the cancer burden in the US. The Florida-California Cancer Research, Education & Engagement (CaRE2) Health Center, is a collaboration among the Florida A&M University (FAMU, an institution known for serving students across all socioeconomic levels), University of Florida (UF) and University of Southern California (USC) that will advance cancer research. The CaRE2 Health Center Research Education Core (REC) is proposed to meet the cancer research education needs of individuals interested in addressing cancer morbidity and mortality. The REC will: (1) support the training of 30 post-bac students in a one-year mentored research and training program (“Postbac-CaRE2”); and (2) provide academic career development, mentorship, and tailored research training opportunities to increase the competitive research capacity for a total of 90 graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and early-stage investigators (ESIs), and 40 ongoing trainees (CaRE2-Grad+); and (3) evaluate CaRE2 Research Education activities. Post-baccalaureate trainees at each partner site will have a year-long immersion in research, working with multidisciplinary teams to build their knowledge of research and to promote their academic career paths in cancer research. Graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and ESIs at each site will receive intensive mentoring, academic career development and tailored research training opportunities to promote their successful attainment of research-related and academic milestones. Program outcomes of the REC will be monitored with Planning and Evaluation Core support to develop a robust long-term tracking and evaluation program of the REC activities across the various CaRE2 training pipelines. In collaboration with the Planning and Evaluation and Administrative Care, the REC will use data gathered via assessment activities to implement program changes as needed to promote the success of the trainees.