Pacific Islanders are an extremely underrepresented minority in the nation's biomedical workforce, both on the faculty of universities and research institutions as well as in public health departments. The number of Pacific Islanders with graduate degrees at the MS and especially PhD level is dismally low. We have successfully started to address this shortcoming over the past six years of U54 support, with so far three PhD graduates and multiple MS graduates, and with several additional graduates currently enrolled in advanced degree programs at our two partner institutions as well as on the US mainland. Our partnership has also helped to develop the cancer research capability at UOG, with several UOG faculty being involved in cancer research with peer-reviewed funding and peer-reviewed publications. Our Research Education Core will continue on this successful path, with three specific aims, essentially unchanged from our current U54 support: 1) Provide support and research education for minority Pacific Islander students at UOG to obtain a master's degree related to cancer research, with a focus on cancer health disparities, 2) Provide support and research education for minority Pacific Islander students at the doctoral level in areas of cancer research, with a focus on cancer health disparities at UHCC, and 3) Support and develop early stage investigators (post-doctoral and junior faculty) at UOG and UHCC to design, conduct, analyze, and disseminate biomedical, psychosocial and/or community-based research focused on cancer health disparities in the Pacific Island region through interdisciplinary collaborations.
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