Cancer prevalence is high in the American population. It is estimated that 1.8 million new cases and 0.6 million deaths occur in 2020. Approximately 8 million male and 9 million female cancer survivors are in the United States and these numbers are expected to increase over the years. Currently, there is a high demand for oncology professionals due to the limited numbers entering the workforce. Cancer affects disproportionately for certain races and ethnicities resulting a disparity in diagnosis and outcomes in these populations. Training underrepresented (URM) minorities to enter biomedical/clinical workforce can better address this issue. The proposed ‘HSC Scholars in cancer Research’ prog...

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Cancer prevalence is high in the American population. It is estimated that 1.8 million new cases and 0.6 million deaths occur in 2020. Approximately 8 million male and 9 million female cancer survivors are in the United States and these numbers are expected to increase over the years. Currently, there is a high demand for oncology professionals due to the limited numbers entering the workforce. Cancer affects disproportionately for certain races and ethnicities resulting a disparity in diagnosis and outcomes in these populations. Training underrepresented (URM) minorities to enter biomedical/clinical workforce can better address this issue. The proposed ‘HSC Scholars in cancer Research’ program promotes biomedical and osteopathic medical students at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) to pursue careers in cancer and health disparities. This program will support the development of creative and innovative research education programs for the students in PhD, clinical research management and dual degree (osteopathic medicine/PhD) programs. The specific programs offered through’ HSC Scholars in cancer Research’ recruits health professional participants at various levels (undergraduate to early post-doctoral) and provides them research training to stimulate career development in the area of cancer. We will implement a well-designed recruitment plan to recruit and train URM and disadvantaged scholars. This program will capitalize on existing pipeline programs at UNTHSC to recruit students into this program. Participants will receive a well-defined curriculum, training with established research mentors from UNTHSC and other local research institutions, and interact with eminent researchers/physician scientists through the national research mentoring network. The initial goal is to train 50 undergraduate, 20 Masters, 10 PhD, 10 dual degree (DO/PhD) and 4 post-doctoral scholars over the next 5 years.

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