Translational Research Training in Cancer Prevention and Control

University Of Pittsburgh At Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Given the severe shortfall of research scientists who are capable of conducting comprehensive studies that can translate fundamental knowledge from the bench to the clinical and the community settings for the improvement of cancer prevention and control, the purpose of this research training program is to provide integrated training in an inter-disciplinary research and teaching setting at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Hillman Cancer Center. Trainees will be trained in understanding the role of environmental exposures, behaviors and lifestyle factors, genetic and other physiological factors in the development and progression of cancer in humans. The training program involves cross-disciplinary training courses in different tracks in the Clinical Trial Research, the Translational Research, and the Population-Based Observational and Interventional Research on cancer. Trainees will work with experienced mentors in a multiple disciplinary team conducting research from mechanistic experiments and observational studies in populations to randomized intervention studies to test the efficacy of cancer-preventive means and strategies in humans. The mentored research will provide direct research experience to trainees in study design, methodological development, implementation of research protocol, data collection, analysis and interpretation, and manuscript preparation and publication. Trainees also will learn how to translate discoveries from pre-clinical experimental and/or observational studies into randomized interventional studies for cancer prevention and control. The unique training of this program will train next generation of scientists who can lead the cutting-edge translational research on cancer etiology, prevention and control. This training program is a joint effort of 26 preceptors who are conducting active research projects all with independent research funding in University of Pittsburgh. These faculties are from the following research programs: the Biobehavioral Cancer Control Program (BCCP), the Cancer Biology Program (CBP), the Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Program (CEPP), the Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Program (CIIP), and Cancer Virology Program (CVP) at the UPMC Hillman Cancer, a top-ranked Comprehensive Cancer Center with $104 million in peer-reviewed direct cost funding in 2023. Trainees will receive cutting-edge translational research training and experience. We request continuing funding to support 3 postdoctorates and 1 predoctorate per year for 5 years. Our recent data on applicant recruitment, retention and training experience demonstrate a relatively large pool of candidates with high academic performance. In addition, we successfully enrolled more than one-third trainees from the underrepresented racial and ethnical groups. The progress and success of the training program will continue to track the career development and research activities of past trainees in the 10 years post-training.