MSM Lead:  Stephanie Miles-Richardson, PhD
   TU Lead:   Roberta Troy, PhD
UAB Lead:   Mona Fouad, MD, MPH

The partnership between the O' Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, Tuskegee University (TU), and Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) presents a unique opportunity for training the pipeline of future cancer research scientists, with emphasis on minority investigators and cancer health disparities research. The overall goal of the Cancer Training Program is to facilitate both faculty and graduate student training and development in the area of 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. The partnership has successfully developed and implemented cancer research training programs for graduate, post-doctoral, and junior faculty level trainees, and in the past five years has impacted the careers of more than 80 graduate students and junior scientists through this training.

The specific aims are to

1. Implement a 12-month Health Disparities Research Training Program (HDRTP), targeting postdoctoral fellows, junior faculty, and transitional faculty (established faculty who wish to pursue a career in cancer research), including the investigators of the pilot projects. Three training tracks will include Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), Cancer Control and Population Science (CCPS), and Basic Science in Cancer Research (BSCR);
2. Implement a Summer Cancer Research Training Program (SCRTP) targeting graduate students, to introduce them to the cancer research field and provide them with basic knowledge of cancer health disparities and methods to address these disparities;
3. Provide extended training to graduate students who have excelled in the SCRTP, through the implementation of a year-long Cancer Research Fellows Program; and
4. Improve the integration of all levels of training (graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty) and promote the CTP as a professional development resource through a Web-based Resource Center, Alumni Program, and symposia.