The interdisciplinary nature of the field of cancer prevention requires a broad spectrum of research skills. In the past 9 years, we have successfully conducted a Cancer Education and Career Development Program (CECDP), which provides interdisciplinary training with emphasis on the interrelationships of human nutrition, exercise, genetics and related metabolic pathways in cancer susceptibility and prevention. The objectives of this training program are: 1. To continue to develop and implement a new curriculum and associated new courses to provide interdisciplinary training in a secondary area to pre- and post-doctoral fellows in three fields: Epidemiology, Nutrition, and Human Biology (including Genetics, Molecular/Cellular Biology and Medicine). Trainees whose doctorate is in one area complete the curriculum in another of these areas. 2. To provide extensive research experience in the conduct of transdisciplinary cancer prevention research, with emphasis on human nutrition, genetics and associated metabolic pathways. We propose to train 4 pre- and 3 post-doctoral fellows. Formal coursework and degrees will be given by three participating programs of the University of Washington: Epidemiology, Nutritional Sciences, and Public Health Genetics. Each trainee will complete a new curriculum developed by this CECDP in a secondary area outside the field of his/her PhD. The curriculum is based on current UW courses, plus 5 courses developed by or co-sponsored by this CECDP to fill gaps in interdisciplinary training. This curriculum has been extensively revised and enhanced to reflect the increasing knowledge of cancer biology, the rapidly changing technologies for genetic and biomarker assays, and the need to place the most recent advances in human genetics in the broader public health context. Trainees will gain experience in cancer prevention research within three units of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center: Cancer Prevention, Epidemiology, and Human Biology. Trainees have access to the considerable research resources of these units, as well as to the outstanding faculty mentors. Each fellow will have at least two research mentors from different disciplines. An Advisory Committee composed of leaders of the participating programs will select trainees, monitor their progress and advise the Program Director. Trainees who complete this program have the didactic and research experience to allow them to be knowledgeable investigators on multidisciplinary cancer prevention research projects.
This award would provide training to young epidemiologists, nutrition scientists, geneticists and physician-researchers who will become the next generation of cancer prevention scientists. The training focuses on nutrition, obesity, exercise and genetics, and progress in these areas could have a major impact in reducing the burden of cancer.
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