Addressing the complex and multifaceted nature of disparities in cancer outcomes and research requires collaborative efforts of diverse scholars and their community partners. Minority serving institutions and Cancer Centers share responsibility and contribute unique strengths that can enhance understanding of these disparities. Thus, the overarching objective of this application is to build interinstitutional collaborations that include but are not limited to funding for mechanisms to encourage research training and broad-based faculty and student involvement in cancer prevention, detection and control research. The goal for these collaborations is to build infrastructure that will increase representation of minorities, and expand the perspective and reach of cancer research conducted at Cancer Centers and Minority Serving Institutions. Partners in this initiative are: North Carolina Central University, the nation's first state-supported liberal arts college for African Americans, the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the oldest Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the US., and Lincoln Community Health Center, a community partner with longstanding ties to the Durham minority community. Our objectives of this planning grant are, using an inter- institutional planning committee structure, to: (1) Create opportunities that will stimulate and enhance collaborative efforts in prevention, detection and control research, among NCCU, DCCC and LCHC; (2) Develop and implement pilot research activities that will serve as a venue for establishing research collaborations among faculty, students and staff at the three participating institutions; and lead in the long run to funded research relating to disparities in cancer outcomes; (3) Through planning and development of a NCCU-DCCC-LCHC collaboration didactic training program in cancer prevention, detection and control research, begin to train and mentor a sustaining cohort of scholars with research expertise in cancer prevention, detection and control research; (4) Obtain external funding to support expansion of the pilot projects and to broaden the scope and scale of the interinstitutional training program for minority scholars in cancer prevention, detection and control research; and (5) Develop a mechanism for periodically evaluating and reviewing the proposed activities to assure that the short- and long-term objectives of this application are being achieved.
