The Johns Hopkins Summer Translational Oncology Program (STOP) is a 7 week fellowship for US medical students who have completed their first year of medical school. The STOP is designed to attract promising medical students at an early career stage, during which they are typically undecided about specific career plans, to the field of oncology. The strategy of this proposed program is to actively engage highly motivated students at an early point in their training by exposing them to the different facets of clinical practice, laboratory research and community outreach. The goal is to instill a lasting sense of excitement about oncology, and to encourage these students to consider postgraduate training in an oncological specialty. This proposal is designed to specifically fund trainees from medical schools that are not currently affiliated with an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center. This program will provide a structured research experience in the oncology laboratories of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, to be supplemented by daily didactic presentations on the molecular basis of cancer, the major areas of modern cancer research, challenges in clinical oncology, and approaches to alleviating cancer health disparities. Half-day rotations on the medical oncology, surgical oncology, pediatric oncology and radiation oncology services are designed to expose fellows to outpatient and inpatient clinical practice. Students will learn about community outreach by shadowing physicians in a clinic for uninsured patients in East Baltimore. A journal club and an end of program symposium provide students with opportunities to formally present published studies and their own research findings. The two Specific Aims of this proposed educational program are to 1) provide rising second year medical students with research, clinical and outreach experiences and didactic instruction that will increase their interest in careers in oncology, and 2) to track the early, intermediate and later career stages of STOP graduates to determine the effectiveness of this educational approach
The Johns Hopkins Summer Translational Oncology Program (STOP) is a 7 week fellowship for US medical students that is designed to promote interest in careers in oncology. The program integrates laboratory-based research, didactic learning and clinical exposure. STOP is designed to engage compassionate and committed medical students at an early career stage, during which they are typically undecided about specific career plans.
