Career Enhancement Program (CEP)

The Career Enhancement Program (CEP) is a critical component of the MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson) Brain Cancer SPORE because it provides funding for early-stage basic scientist, physician- scientists, and clinical trialists to develop independent careers in brain cancer research, guided by senior mentors with outstanding track-records in translational research. The program also supports established faculty who wish to enhance or refocus their careers on translational brain cancer research. Therefore, the CEP seeks to: 1) Recruit and train early-stage physicians and scientists to become outstanding translational investigators in the field of neuro-oncology. 2) Recruit established faculty who wish to enhance or refocus their careers on translational brain cancer research 3) Provide funding for projects of early-stage investigators with the goal of obtaining the necessary preliminary data to secure large independent research grants (e.g., R01) or to become full projects in the SPORE. 4) Provide outstanding mentorship to guide recipients to develop the intellectual, communication, organizational and technical skills required to be productive investigators in translational brain cancer research; 5) Teach awardees basic principles of cancer biology that are not commonly included in clinical training or PhD programs. These objectives are achieved through a strong mentorship program in which awardees not only receive funds for specific research proposals but also are mentored on how to excel in translational brain cancer research. Our CEP has successfully expanded the brain cancer research community and will continue to do so during this renewal SPORE cycle. Of the 20 awardees in the past two cycles, an impressive 60% have gone on to secure independent peer-reviewed grant funding, and to establish impressive research careers.