We propose a three year cancer prevention postdoctoral training program for physicians, leading to a M.S. in epidemiology and specialization in clinical oncology. The program will enroll two trainees each year. Trainees will be clinical oncology fellows (selected junior clinical oncology faculty members may also apply). The training program will combine formal course work, thesis research, and hands-on experience in intervention research, under the guidance of well-qualified preceptors with a large, peer-reviewed, funded research base. AU fellows will receive formal training in the biology of neoplasia, in health behavior, and in advanced methods in cancer prevention/control research. The program will provide practical training in all the principal activities of prevention research: 1) problem analysis, critical evaluation of others' work, methods for systematic literature review; 2) problem statement, hypothesis development, formulation of problem in context of appropriate model or theory, philosophy of scientific inquiry, 3) preparation of research proposal with methods and procedures appropriate to the problem, selecting study design and methods in concert with the interests and rights of participants, planning for personnel and the financial support of the research; 4) conducting the research project, with attention to both the technical and managerial aspects that are the responsibility of a principal investigator, 5) phasing a project out when the work is complete; obligations to participants, staff, data, colleagues; 6) reporting results concisely yet fully, in the published literature and to professional gatherings; communicating with students, with the public, with the press; 7) using results of research, and work of others, to determine next steps; conducting programmatic research with answers leading to next questions. All fellows will gain experience working with clinical research study populations that emphasizes women and minorities, including opportunity to work in the following funded studies: 1) Avoidable Mortality from Cancer in Black Populations; 2) Prevention of Cervical Cancer in Native American Women, 3) Polyp Prevention Trial; 4) Utilization of Screening Mammography in a Public Health Center, 5) Breast Cancer Screening at the Work Place; 6) Ovarian Cancer Screening Among High-Risk Women; 7) Improving Compliance among Women with Abnormal Pap Smears; 8) Developing a Smoking Cessation Program for Pregnant Adolescents. Two of the three years of the training program will be funded by this grant and will be devoted to research training, with a core curriculum provided by the M.S. program and research and collateral educational activities in the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest University. The third year of training will be offered by the Bowman Gray School of Medicine and will provide for development of clinical skills and experience required for certification in clinical oncology. For trainees who are already qualified in clinical oncology, such as junior faculty members at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine the additional clinical training will not be necessary.
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