) Founded in 1988, the Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program (CPCTP) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC), has two major components: A. Pre- and Postdoctoral Training Program, and B. Short Research Experiences for medical and public health students. The environment of the UAB Medical Center, which for many years has fostered excellence in research and teaching, has proved ideal for the CPCTP, enabling the Program to attract high-quality trainees from all over the U.S. The trainees enrolled to date have pursued courses of study in epidemiology, nutrition sciences, health behavior, environmental health sciences, biostatistics, and public health nutrition; and research projects in cessation of tobacco use, cancer screening, cancer epidemiology, diet modification, nutrient-cancer relationships, statistical modeling of carcinogenesis, medical-nutrition education, and obesity, in precise alignment with NCI cancer control objectives. Both courses and research projects have been interdisciplinary, taking advantage of the strong interdepartmental collaborative atmosphere at UAB. By the beginning of year 08 (September 1995), 38 pre-and postdoctoral trainees will have completed or will remain in training, and 46 health professions students will have completed summer research experiences. At least 125 papers or abstracts have been published, accepted, or submitted, and at least 36 presentations of Program activities and research have been made at national meetings. Former trainees have been successfully placed in academic, administrative, and practice positions in which they can strategically apply their cancer prevention and control expertise. Developments in the current funding period have included establishment of a new in-depth course on the relationships of nutrition and cancer, and successful recruitment of minority trainees (comprising 45 percent of new pre-and postdoctoral trainees). Evaluation of the program indicates that it has been extremely effective in achieving its and NCI's objectives. In the next five years, a Career Skills Development Seminar Series will be initiated to develop the trainees' teaching, research, interpersonal, and administrative skills for future career positions; minority recruitment will be sustained; and training will be extended to include studies in Health Services Administration, Health Economics, and Health Policy Analysis. Through this program, UAB is certain to have a major impact on the professional and scientific work force committed to cancer prevention and control in the 21st century.
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