This proposal is a competitive renewal application submitted in response to PA-18-403 (Institutional Research Training Grant). In accordance with the program announcement, we seek continued funding for the Moffitt Cancer Center Post-Doctoral Training Program in Behavioral Oncology, originally funded under the R25T mechanism in 2003, that trains postdoctoral fellows in highly interdisciplinary and collaborative cancer research settings.
Specific aims are to: 1) continue the development and refinement of a curriculum- dependent post-doctoral training program in behavioral oncology research that draws upon the faculty and resources of the Moffitt Cancer Center and the University of South Florida; 2) recruit a diverse group of promising trainees who are committed to careers as researchers in translational behavioral oncology; and 3) provide trainees with knowledge, skills, opportunities, and mentoring needed to become leading scientists in translational behavioral oncology. The training program builds on extensive and productive collaborations among researchers with diverse backgrounds in behavioral science, population science, health communications, nursing, and medicine. These researchers are all faculty at the University of South Florida and members of the Division of Population Sciences, primarily the Health Outcomes and Behavior Program, at Moffitt Cancer Center. A key feature of this program has been the development and refinement of a specialized curriculum in behavioral oncology not otherwise available at our institution that is clearly linked to the program's training goals and objectives. As described in the application, this specialized training consists of a required core curriculum for both first-year and second-year trainees and an elective curriculum, designed to provide individualized training, that is selected by each trainee in consultation with his/her training committee. Since the last competitive renewal, the program has continued to be successful in attracting a talented and diverse pool of applicants, recruiting the best applicants from this pool, and providing the trainees recruited with the skills, experiences, and mentoring necessary for becoming successful independent investigators in the field of behavioral oncology.
This application seeks continued funding for a program that provides post-doctoral training in behavioral oncology research. Since 2003, the program has been successful in attracting a talented and diverse pool of applicants, recruiting the best applicants from this pool, and providing the trainees recruited with the skills, experiences, and mentoring necessary for becoming successful leading investigators in the field of translational behavioral oncology.
