? Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide, the seventh most common solid tumor in the United States. The incidence of head and neck cancer in African American men has been approximately two times higher than that of non African American men with a lower 5-year relative survival (36.2% vs. 47.6%). Howard University Medical Institutions is a minority-serving educational institution and medical center that is an important educational and clinical resource in the Washington DC/ Baltimore metropolitan area and serves a large community of low-income African American patients. However, recruitment and support for translational research efforts at Howard University has significant challenges. The goal of this proposal is to create a collaborative environment to enhance translational research and education related to head and neck cancer at the Howard University Medical Institutions through a highly collaborative effort between the Howard University Medical Institutions and the Head and Neck Cancer Center at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. This collaboration is focused on translational research and research training as well as educational efforts focused on enhancing head and neck cancer translational research and impact on the Howard Medical Institutions community.
Specific aims will be: 1) to support collaborative cancer research projects between the Howard University Medical Institutions and the Head and Neck Cancer Center and Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins 2) to provide collaborative training and mentoring program for promoting Howard medical and dental students and faculty in cancer research, 3) to establish education programs that advance the knowledge of translational cancer research as it applies to etiology, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of head and neck cancer in the context of minority-serving institutions.
These aims will be promoted and coordinated in a synergistic manner, such that they reinforce the creation of a culture of collaborative translational research within the Howard University Cancer Center as well as an effective long-term partnership with investigators at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. These goals will be pursued by directed mentorship of individuals at Howard Medical Institutions to develop as independent investigators via traditional mechanisms of the National Cancer Institute. ? ? ? ?
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