Cancer Research Career Enhancement and Related Activities

CANCER RESEARCH CAREER ENHANCEMENT AND RELATED ACTIVITIES: PROJECT SUMMARY Siteman Cancer Center (SCC) has a strong research training environment and a long-standing record of trainee success. Rooted in the robust educational infrastructure of Washington University, SCC enhances training and education initiatives available to cancer researchers and efforts to develop a more diverse cancer research workforce. The SCC Cancer Research Career Enhancement (CRCE) will build upon these current efforts to: 1. Provide new cancer education opportunities at SCC that fill specific existing training gaps by funding new specific cancer research programs, supplementing existing programs to enable more SCC member participants, supporting travel to select scientific meetings, and sponsoring seminars and workshops. 2. Coordinate existing research education and training activities at Washington University by sharing and promoting didactic courses and other training opportunities across the spectrum from undergraduate to junior faculty. We also share lessons learned from the Cancer Biology Training Consortium (CaBTraC) meetings and the eight F, eight K, four T32, two K99/R00, and one K12 Calabresi award from the NCI to help identify additional training grant opportunities and slots for eligible candidates. 3. Develop new initiatives to enhance education and training opportunities by expanding existing SCC CRCE opportunities to better support the cancer research workforce and improve programming through structured evaluation and filling of existing training gaps. New efforts will include establishment of a Cancer Biology PhD program, additional grant writing support, hosting team science symposia, as well as expansion of cancer biology courses, workshops, and clinical research programs across other training programs. We will also develop workshops and provide mentoring for continued development of faculty, as well as for community scientists and physicians in emerging areas of cancer research. We believe the current and future SCC CRCE programming will transform the future cancer research workforce. The CRCE will do this by providing the training, education, and mentorship needed to successfully advance trainees to independence. We will build upon successful existing programs and streamline efforts to train cancer researchers throughout all specialties of the SCC. We will target some of the key needs of trainees, developing focused mentorship, supportive research communities, tailored career guidance, and practical understanding of available funding sources and grant submissions. With this foundation of support in place, we believe our investigators will transition to independence more quickly, have the ability to focus on their patients and research, and will result in making significant contributions to cancer research and patient outcomes.