The Vanderbilt Clinical Oncology Research Career Development Program (VCORCDP) will train clinical oncologists in the design and implementation of all phases of clinical trial research with emphasis on translational research. The goal is to encourage and train physicians in careers of academic-oriented, clinical oncologic research. Candidates will be recruited from three existing Vanderbilt programs: (1) Adult Hematology/Oncology (second and third year fellows), General Surgery/Surgical Oncology (fourth and fifth year residents), and Pediatric Oncology (second and third year fellows). Applications will be reviewed by an Advisory Committee consisting of eight faculty members from Medical Oncology, Surgical Oncology and Pediatric Oncology. Applicants accepted will participate in a comprehensive two-year didactic lecture series which focuses on biostatistics, clinical protocol design, medical ethics, grant writing, regulatory issues and epidemiology (20 percent time commitment). Trainees will initiate a mentored patient-oriented, hypothesis driven research project, which will expose them to Vanderbilt's extensive multidisciplinary clinical research community through the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) and account for 70 percent of a trainee's time. Twenty-four faculty members from the VICC (80 percent with peer-reviewed funding) will serve as mentors. All research projects will be reviewed and approved by the Advisory Committee. Most research projects will involve multiple mentors. Training will be at the VICC, a matrix center within Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), which includes seven research programs that trainees can select from: Signal Transduction and Cell Proliferation, Cancer Genetics and Genomics, Host Tumor Interactions, Gastrointestinal Cancer, Breast Cancer, Cancer Prevention and Experimental Therapeutics. Trainees successfully completing the two-year program of didactic lectures and patient-oriented research will be awarded a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation or a Master of Public Health degree from Vanderbilt University. Support is being requested for six training positions per year.
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