PROFESSIONAL ONCOLOGY EDUCATION

St. Jude Children'S Research Hospital, Memphis TN

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

There is a need for well-trained, competent pediatric oncology clinicians and researchers, and it is important to recruit highly qualified young people into the field. The Professional Oncology Education (POE) program at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital provides knowledge and experience which enables medical, allied health, and science students to consider pediatric oncology careers. Pediatric oncology experience, by heightening awareness and knowledge of pediatric cancers, is especially critical to speed cancer diagnosis in pediatric patients, who can often be cured if diagnosed and treated early in their disease process. Although cancer is color-blind, minority representation among pediatric oncology scientists is woefully inadequate. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is in a unique position to address these issues by stimulating interest in cancer research and cancer management. POE program participants are consistently approximately 50 percent minorities. Recruitment techniques include web site http://www.stjude.org announcement, email to first-year UT- Memphis medical students (many of whom are minorities), and mail to deans (especially minority affairs) of all US medical schools. Applicants browse our web site and scientific report, identify faculty members with whom they would like to work, and apply on- line. Many visit St. Jude to meet their prospective preceptor and the program director. In 1999, 73 (47 percent minority) highly motivated young US citizens from 37 schools in 22 states (including Hawaii, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Ireland) are spending 2-8 months at St. Jude working with 68 St. Jude preceptors. POE students attend our weekly leukemia/lymphoma conference, hematology/oncology grand rounds, faculty teaching series for hematology/oncology residents, and tumor board. Distinguished faculty present weekly POE student lectures on pediatric oncology topics. Many POE students return for subsequent appointments. Major advances in cancer treatment are truly interdisciplinary efforts between basic and clinical scientists. A recent increase in funding enabled us to expand the program to include outstanding basic science students. The number of applicants increased from 40 (18 accepted) in 1996 to 150 (73 accepted) in 1999. Faculty requests for POE students exceed funding capacity, and we are forced to turn away many well-qualified students. Our just-initiated 1 billion dollar expansion program will more than double our physical plant, faculty, and staff by 2005. We will expand our cancer research and treatment efforts and create the Children's Infection Defense Center and the Pediatric Genetic Diseases Center. An adequate response to expanding facilities and programs, increasing faculty requests for POE students, and growing student demand will require a significant funding increase.