This Postdoctoral Training Program in Cancer Survivorship has a unique focus on cancer survivorship. Advances in cancer treatments and our aging population have led to an increasing number of cancer survivors and this number is expected to continue to increase by a third to 18 million people by 2012. Cancer survivors deal with many issues such as symptom management, access to treatment, preventing recurrence, and long- term or late effects of cancer treatments. Research is needed to better understand these issues and to develop interventions to reduce morbidity from cancer and improve quality of life for cancer survivors. The complexity of these issues involves knowledge of epidemiology, social and behavioral sciences, clinical oncology, health services research, cancer biology and genetics. The Cancer Education and Career Development Training Program (CECDP) is an ideal mechanism for training researchers in this field. This is a renewal application to continue the successful Postdoctoral Training Program in Cancer Survivorship at Wake Forest University Health Sciences. This two to four year postdoctoral training program for social/behavioral scientists, epidemiologists, and physicians aims to develop investigators with new research skills and interdisciplinary training focused on the design and implementation of cancer survivorship research. The program is multidisciplinary and collaborative with respect to its faculty and training approach, the research projects of trainees, and the backgrounds of the trainees themselves. The training program provides a specialized curriculum in cancer survivorship and a tailored program for each trainee that combines formal course work and hands-on experience in survivorship research under the guidance of at least two well- qualified mentors with a large, peer-reviewed funded research base. The tailored program can also lead to an M.S. degree in Clinical and Translational Science. All trainees receive formal training in cancer survivorship, NIH grant preparation, training in the responsible conduct of research, and participate in interdisciplinary seminars and interest groups. The program provides practical training in research including working in an interdisciplinary team, selecting a research design, ethics in research, guidelines for the use of human subjects in research, grant preparation, patient recruitment, collecting and analyzing data, presentations at scientific meetings, and writing manuscripts for publication. Trainees have opportunities to collaborate with our CCOP Research base, the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity, multi-site studies and cooperative groups, and the Center for Integrative Medicine. Study populations include the underserved, elderly, and rural populations. Trainees will have the opportunity to experience basic, clinical and population research environments, as well as take advantage of the interdisciplinary activities and full resources of the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest University and Wake Forest University Health Sciences.

R25CA122061

2006-07-01

2019-07-31