Early recruitment of underrepresented minorities from underserved communities into biomedical and health research training and education is essential to ensure that society's diversity is reflected in those professions. Given the critical cancer health disparities faced in Hispanic populations,in this 2"""""""""""""""" competitive renewal of the Training Program between UPR and MDACC we will continue to develop a comprehensive pipeline of trainees from undergraduates to postgraduates to increase the number of Hispanic clinicians, scientists, physicianscientists and health professionals knowledgeable and committed to careers in cancer research and medicine, as well as foster a faculty career development and mentoring program for junior faculty and for senior faculty transitioning to careers in cancer research. The UPR and MDACC Co-leaders have designed the training program to focus on several key areas including biomedical, clinical and translational research. Training methodology will include didactics, research experiences, enrichment opportunities, an MD/PhD program, postgraduate biomedical and clinical training, and training in cancer prevention and health disparities. The training program will be supplemented and enhanced by a new Cancer Education Core which offers a core curriculum in cancer and didactics in cancer health disparifies. This separate core will develop a curriculum in cancer that will be integrated into the training program. Career development will enhance existing programs to build both academic skills such as grant wrifing, publishing in high impact peer-reviewed journals, and giving effecfive presentations, as well as professional skills in negotiating and effective communication. Senior faculty transifioning to a career in cancer research and medicine will participate in the career development program. The Training and Career Development Core (TCDC) will collaborate with the planning evaluafion core to use outcomes-based logic modeling to evaluate qualitative and quantitative data so as to measure impact ofthe programs. Qualitative surveys will be ufilized to obtain feedback from trainees and junior faculty on their immediate and long-term needs and interests, as well as to rate their experiences participating in various programs. A clear plan will be developed and implemented to enable the UPRCCC to independently sustain outstanding training and career development programs in cancer medicine and research. The TCDC, along with the new Education Core (Section E.2), functions as an integrated training, career development, and education program to fill a knowledge gap and foster a bridge to success for the next generation of Hispanic cancer researchers and physicians.
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