Research Project
9126973
Cancer Training and Education Program (CTEP) The Partnership between Alabama State University (ASU), a Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCU) and the University of Alabama Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center (UAB CCC) presents a unique opportunity for training and educating the pipeline of future cancer research scientists, with emphasis on minority investigators and cancer health disparities research. The Cancer Education Program (CEP), an integral part of the CTEP, seeks to introduce curricular reform at ASU to educate, engage and motivate underrepresented minority students in cancer research and education. This effort will be accomplished by two specific aims. 1) To revise the current immunology course at ASU by adding cancer biology topics/course, and enroll students into this revised course in the second year, and 2) To develop, in years 2-3, a Cancer Biology course for undergraduates and implement it during year 4. The Cancer Biology course will be offered at ASU after review and recommendations by ASU and UAB CCC investigators and by the institutional curriculum committee at ASU. The purpose of the course is to motivate and equip students to pursue careers that address cancer and other health disparities by expanding their knowledge of data, issues, and research strategies that relate to cancer research. The overall goal of the Cancer Training Program (CTP), as part of the CTEP, is to facilitate graduate student and junior faculty training and development in cancer research, in order to increase the number of minority investigators involved in cancer research and/or the number of investigators involved in cancer research as it relates to minority populations. Specific Aims are: 1) To implement a structured Health Disparities Research Training Program (HDRTP) for post-doctoral fellows, junior faculty, and transitional faculty, with 3 career training tracks: CBPR, CCPS, and BSCR. 2) To link the HDRTP with the Cancer Research projects by involving the ASU Pilot Project PIs in the HDRTP, and HDRTP scholars in the research projects; to integrate with Bioethics Resources through workshops and grant application reviews; and to integrate with the Biostatistics Resources through video-conference discussions and grant-application reviews; and 3) To implement an evaluation plan to assess outcomes.
