The purpose of this program is to provide cancer-related research experiences for medical students, with the long-term goal of stimulating participants to engage in research as part of their subsequent professional activities and/or to seek careers in academic medicine. The immediate goal is to increase students' knowledge and understanding of advances in cancer research, and of the research process in general. Among the expected benefits of the program is enhanced receptivity to newer preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic approaches to caring for persons at risk for or living with cancer. The Cancer Education Program is under the administrative direction of the Associate Dean for Education. Guidance, oversight, and monitoring are provided by a broad-based faculty committee. Individual student projects are carried out as part of faculty-sponsored research programs, and are conducted in the laboratories of the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School and the clinical facilities of its affiliated hospitals and institutes. This renewal application includes initiatives to expand the number and variety of cancer-related research offerings, especially community-based projects which have an emphasis on cancer prevention and control in women and minority populations. There are also strategies to involve a greater number of women and minority students in these projects. In addition, there are specific initiatives to enrich students' knowledge of cancer as a disease, enhance their understanding of various aspects of the biomedical research process, and strengthen the focus on effective communication of the results of their studies. An important component of the program is assessment of long-term outcomes. This is to be accomplished by continuing with retrospective surveys of previous participants and augmenting the existing data base to include career tracking and authorship on publications. The Cancer Education Program is part of a larger Student Summer Research Program that has been ongoing for a number of years and attracts over half of the first year medical school class. Because cancer-related projects comprise approximately 20% of the total, and because there is close collaboration between the Office of Education and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, the Cancer Education Program often serves as a model within which enhancements and new initiatives are developed. Thus the influence of the present program extends beyond cancer-related research and has a significant impact on the overall student research program at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School.
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