The nature of cancer research is changing exponentially, with significant alterations in paradigms developing out of swiftly changing technologies and analytic methods. Increasingly interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to research have had enormous impact on cancer research. Epidemiology plays a significant and critical role in research on cancer prevention and control; that continued contribution is critically dependent on training new investigators grounded in epidemiologic methods, trained in cancer biology, skilled in interdisciplinary research and who have the ability to continue to adapt to a rapidly changing field. We propose here the continuation of an interdisciplinary training program in cancer prevention and control. This program was previously an R25 to train pre-doctoral fellows. With this transition to a T32, we propose to continue and advance that training program (four pre-doctoral slots per year; training for three years) and to expand to include the training of postdoctoral fellows (two slots per year; training for two years). The training program is a collaboration between the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health (EEH) at the University at Buffalo (UB) and the Departments of Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC) and Health Behavior (HB) at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI). Led by Dr. Freudenheim at UB and Dr. Moysich at RPCI, the program brings together an outstanding group of investigators with a strong record of funded research and research mentoring. The mentors provide access to their own, well developed, cutting edge cancer-focused research programs as well as access to large datasets and previously collected biological samples and networks of collaborators. UB and RPCI provide a wealth of resources including coursework, seminars, journal clubs and work in progress groups. All fellows develop an individual training plan, working under the advisement of their mentors. They are all part of an interdisciplinary team that includes mentoring from at least one epidemiologist and at least one investigator from another discipline (e.g., toxicology, oncology, immunology, health behavior). In the R25 training program, funded for the last nine years, we have been able to recruit an outstanding and diverse group of fellows who have been very successful, taking part in a wealth of career development activities, presenting at conferences, publishing manuscripts and going on to excellent research intensive positions. Together, UB and RPCI provide for outstanding opportunities for strong training in epidemiologic methods and biostatistics, and cancer biology. The long-term goal of this program is to train scientists with expertise in cancer prevention and control, and the skills to continue to adapt to new technologies and approaches and work effectively in teams to incorporate new insights from other disciplines so that they can successfully contribute to cancer prevention and control, doing research that translates to improve public health.
With the rapidly changing landscape of cancer research, training of new investigators with skills in the ability to work with and lead inter- and transdisciplinary teams is critical. Proposed is the continuation of a training program in cancer prevention and control for pre-doctoral fellows, and the addition of a postdoctoral program, to train scientists who can integrate epidemiology, cancer biology, biostatistics and other disciplines in order to design and implement trans- and interdisciplinary research that will have the greatest impact on public health.
