Career Enhancement Program

PROJECT SUMMARY – CAREER ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM (CEP) The Career Enhancement Program (CEP) provides seed funding to support and foster careers of early-stage scientists interested in translational liver cancer research and to facilitate more established investigators refocusing their research towards this area. The CEP will fund career-enhancing pilot projects, with potential to generate groundbreaking discoveries that significantly improve liver cancer prevention, early detection, or treatment efficacy. The CEP is led by 3 successful investigators with strong track records in mentoring and complementary research expertise: Drs. Hao Zhu, Elisabeth Martinez, and Suzanne Conzen. CEP proposals will be solicited via the Administrative and Outreach Core working with the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center leadership; pre-screened for eligibility, suitability, and relevance by CEP leadership; reviewed by internal and external experts; and approved for funding by the SPORE Executive Committee. In addition to $50,000/yr through the SPORE, UTSW will commit an additional $125,000/yr for a total of $175,000 per year. Two to four projects will be awarded per year (a total of 15-20 projects over 5 years). Criteria for selection include significance, innovation, approach, investigator qualifications, mentoring team and translational potential (including synergy with existing SPORE projects). Priority will be given to projects with potential to obtain external funding and/or become main SPORE projects. The aims of the CEP are to: (1) Identify, recruit, and mentor a pool of promising early-career scientists and physician-scientists; (2) Serve as a mechanism to provide seed funding for promising career-enhancing projects; (3) Facilitate development and progress of CEP investigators and transition of their successful projects into competitive applications for peer-reviewed funding; and (4) Support SPORE CEP awardees to ensure scientific advances are translated into improved outcomes for liver cancer patients. CEP awardees will have access to SPORE core resources, benefit from expertise and leadership of SPORE investigators, and will be an integral part of SPORE meetings. Metrics of success for recipients include invitations to present at scientific meetings; successful competition for NIH grant support (K23 or R01 grants, depending on stage of career); publication of original research studies; and institutional recognition by academic promotion. The CEP serves as a pipeline to increase the breadth and number of UTSW investigators who translate innovative basic science breakthroughs and technologies to the care of liver cancer patients. Thus, CEP activities will enrich the Liver Cancer SPORE and make a sustainable translational impact toward our goal of reducing liver cancer mortality in Texas and the U.S for many years to come.