) This proposal titled """"""""Partnership to Increase Hispanic Cancer Research for Colorado"""""""", is a partnership approach to reduce the disparities of cancer, cancer control, and prevention activities in the Hispanic community across Colorado. The University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCCCC) and the University of Southern Colorado (USC) an Hispanic Serving Institution) will work in collaboration to increase community education of cancer, increase the pool of qualified undergraduates and graduates pursuing a career in cancer research and establish cancer research projects conducted at USC in collaboration with scientists at UCCCC. The goal of this application is to develop a sustainable partnership between the two institutions creating an infrastructure for ongoing cancer research and cancer education. There are four specific objectives of this long-term collaborative program between the UCCCC and USC: 1) To increase the participation of USC in research relevant to cancer; 2) To increase the effectiveness of the UCCCC via the USC partnership in cancer training/education for Hispanics in Colorado; 3) To develop NCI-funded collaborative research between the faculty of the UCCCC and USC in cancer biology and cancer prevention; and 4) To positively impact the cancer problem among Hispanics in Colorado by strengthening the research expertise and cancer educational programs at both institutions. Our objectives will be met by joint USC-UCCCC collaborations to achieve the following five specific aims: 1) Develop and implement a cancer research pilot program at USC; 2) Sustain academic interactions between USC and UCCCC via academic exchanges of faculty in both directions; 3) Develop a pre-collegiate cancer biosciences outreach educational program at USC; 4) Expand the already successful pre-collegiate biosciences educational outreach programs at USC to include a cancer focus effectively supporting the educational pipeline of Hispanic students to both institutions; and 5) Expand the curricula of the to the USC Nursing Department in terms of graduate offerings in the area of oncology, career development, and oncology colloquiums. During the course of this proposal pilot research projects will be developed. These projects will be conducted at USC in collaboration with UCCCC and include research in the specific areas of attachment and metastasis, environmental contaminants and the etiology of breast and prostate cancer, and analysis of the p53 gene mutation. These projects will serve to increase the participation of USC in research relevant to cancer by establishing collaborations between faculty of both institutions and, as a result, provide training in the area of cancer research for Hispanic undergraduate and graduate students attending USC. To accomplish this, we propose to establish formal clinical partnerships to enhance training opportunities for minority scientists and to establish formal academic partnerships to facilitate planning and pursuit of pilot projects. Part of this formal partnership will involve the expansion of undergraduate oncology nursing research and education and the collaborative development of a post-graduate nursing program with an emphasis in oncology nursing education in a rural setting. The outcome of the project with have a positive impact on both the institutions and communities involved in the collaboration but additionally. Additionally, and more importantly, it has potential to impact cancer incidence and outcomes within Colorado through our increased collaborative cancer research, education and clinical practice endeavors.
