Our goals to create a highly productive, state-of-the-science training program is premised on the conviction that solving key challenges in population health in general and lung cancer disparities in particular, and improving research in this area, will only be realized via collaboration across the many scientific fields. Accordingly, the Training Program will coordinate closely with several other resources for training at HSPH. One of these other resources is the HSPH Yerby Fellowship Program, a cornerstone of this training program. The Yerby Fellowships are an HSPH program of HSPH aimed at increasing the number of minority faculty members by recruiting and supporting minority post-doctoral fellows with an outstanding potential for success at the faculty level. The program creates a bridge between academic training in health-related disciplines and entry-level faculty positions. Its goal is to advance the intellectual and professional development of each Yerby fellow. Under the guidance of a senior HSPH faculty member with compatible interests, fellows develop their research agendas, gain experience in publishing papers in peer-reviewed journals and obtaining grant support, participate in a variety of professional development workshops, and increase their teaching expertise. To build the Center's training program, HSPH and the DF/HCC have each committed to supporting one Yerby position per year. This effort builds on a solid track record: four Yerby Fellows have been placed in cancer prevention research in the last five years, and the three who have completed their fellowships have gone on to faculty level positions. This training program also builds on the HSPH Cancer Prevention Education Program, funded since 1992 by the National Cancer Institute, now under an R25T (Sorensen, PI, 5R25CA 05771). A central goal of this program is trans-disciplinary education of future leaders in cancer prevention research. Current faculty leadership includes Drs. Sorensen (Pl), David Christiani, Karen Emmons, Sue Goldie, Nancy Rigotti, K. Viswanath, and Walter Willett. The program includes support for pre-doctoral fellows, physicians completing a further degree while also seeking mentored research opportunities, and post-doctorates seeking to focus their careers on research in cancer prevention. To date, 79 fellows have participated in this Program, including 66 who have completed the training and are currently serving In leadership positions in cancer prevention research. Both these training programs offer mechanisms for expanding the training capacity of the Center. The TCDP will work closely with the selection committees of each of these two training programs to identify and recruit post-doctoral fellows interested in population health and health disparities, in addition to those trained directly through this core. In addition, both training programs provide opportunities for fellows to apply for internal funding from DF/HCC nodal grant program, DF/HCC/UMass Boston, U-56 program, the Han/ard CTSC, and the NCI-CNP, Pilot programs. These opportunities for collaboration will provide a vehicle for expanding the career development impact of this training program. This Center training effort will also coordinate with the HSPH Cancer Prevention Training Program in providing seminars and mentorship for fellows.
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