The proposed Cancer Education Program at the University of Wisconsin- Madison encompasses two major areas: 1) initiation of a doctoral-level curriculum for physicians in disease prevention and control and 2) continuation of a summer assistantship program in cancer research for incoming and current UW medical students.
Specific aims are l) to train physicians to be specialists in the practice of chronic disease prevention and control with a focus on cancer through education, research training and clinical training and 2) to increase students' knowledge of cancer biology, encourage consideration of careers in oncology, foster close interaction between students and faculty role models and expose students to clinical cancer care. The experimental design and methods include 1) recruit physicians interested in postdoctoral training in clinical prevention of human cancer, develop an individualized training program with a faculty sponsor in their area of interest, complete a core curriculum of courses applicable to disease prevention, develop and complete a core training program, complete a clinical intervention research project, and 2) recruit students in their first and second years of medical school who are interested in a nine week (summer) experience in cancer research, match students with faculty mentors who help them formulate and carry out individual research projects, enable students to observe faculty mentors in clinical work and attend numerous seminars and lectures given throughout the hospital.
