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Principal Investigator: Liya Escalera
Organization: UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $369,198
Funding agency: National Cancer Institute
PROJECT SUMMARY
The UMass Boston Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Partnership’s Research Education Core (REC) aims
to bridge the divide that exists in the biomedical workforce by increasing the number of UMass Boston
students, particularly those from underrepresented populations, to pursue graduate degrees and cancer/cancer
health disparities research careers. Utilizing evidence-based training that fosters the growth and persistence of
underrepresented students in the sciences, the REC provides trainees with science enrichment education and
mentored research experiences which emphasize professional development, inclusive support, and team
science across multiple disciplines. The framework of the REC focuses on three areas that are critical to the
development of research scientists: (1) acquisition of scientific knowledge; (2) development of communication
skills; and (3) individualized career development. The Core will provide four research education programs:
undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, graduate, and post-doctoral. Over the course of the grant cycle the REC
seeks to support 60 undergraduates (15-20 per year, minimum one semester or summer, 90% multisemester), 30 graduate students (6-8 per year, most multi-semester), 15 post-baccalaureate students (3 per
year for 1-2 years), and 2 nursing post-doctoral scientists (1 per two-year fellowship) in innovative research
education programming. Partnership faculty will mentor trainees and fellows at all levels. Recognizing that the
needs of individuals vary and that they change at each educational level, the REC will provide individualized
and developmentally appropriate experiences aimed at preparing students/trainees for the next phase of their
academic and research careers. The REC will continue to provide research opportunities for students at the
intersection between the natural/physical sciences and social/behavioral sciences. Over the past 15 years, the
Research Education Core (REC) has provided 347 trainees/fellows across the scientific preparation levels with
mentored research experiences and scholarly, scientific, and professional development that prepares them to
pursue advanced degrees & fellowships, and then to become cancer, health disparities, and/or biomedical
science researchers. The REC will continue to use innovative methods to assess the extent to which the
Partnership research education program is preparing trainees and fellows to successfully pursue a productive
cancer/cancer health disparities research career. The REC will also advance scientific knowledge on effective
research education programs through the submission of manuscripts to peer-reviewed publications regarding
the impact of Partnership activities on the diversity of the biomedical workforce and effective strategies for
developing research scientists from underrepresented backgrounds.
Terms: <Address><American><Area><Behavioral Sciences><Black Populations><Black group><Black individual><Black people><Blacks><Boston><COVID crisis><COVID epidemic><COVID pandemic><COVID-19 crisis><COVID-19 epidemic><COVID-19 era><COVID-19 global health crisis><COVID-19 global pandemic><COVID-19 health crisis><COVID-19 pandemic><COVID-19 period><COVID-19 public health crisis><COVID-19 years><Cancer Center><Cancers><Center for Cancer Research><Color><Communication><Communities><DF/HCC><Dana-Farber Cancer Institute><Development><Development and Research><Disabled Persons><Disabled Population><Discipline><Discipline of Nursing><Disparities><Disparity><Doctor of Philosophy><Education><Educational Achievement><Educational Status><Educational aspects><Enrollment><Ethnic Group><Ethnic People><Ethnic Population><Ethnic individual><Ethnicity People><Ethnicity Population><Faculty><Fellowship><Fostering><Generalized Growth><Genomics><Graduate Degree><Grant><Group Affiliation><Growth><Handicapped><Health><Health Disparities Research><Health disparities related research><Healthcare><Individual><Infrastructure><Institutional Racism><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Investigators><Investments><Knowledge><Latine><Latinx><Low Income Population><Low income group><Malignant Neoplasms><Malignant Tumor><Manuscripts><Massachusetts><Mentors><Methods><NCI Center for Cancer Research><Native Americans><Nursing><Nursing Field><Nursing Profession><Peer Review><People with Disabilities><Persons with Disabilities><Ph.D.><PhD><Phase><Population><Population Heterogeneity><Postbaccalaureate><Postdoc><Postdoctoral Fellow><Preparation><Process><Productivity><Publications><R & D><R&D><R-Series Research Projects><R01 Mechanism><R01 Program><Racial Group><Research><Research Associate><Research Design><Research Grants><Research Personnel><Research Project Grants><Research Projects><Researchers><SARS-CoV-2 epidemic><SARS-CoV-2 global health crisis><SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic><SARS-CoV-2 pandemic><SARS-coronavirus-2 epidemic><SARS-coronavirus-2 pandemic><Science><Science Enrichment><Scientific Advances and Accomplishments><Scientific Publication><Scientist><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 epidemic><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 pandemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 epidemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic><Students><Study Type><Systematic Racism><Systemic Racism><Tissue Growth><Training><Underrepresented Groups><Underrepresented Populations><Underrepresented Students><Universities><Work><behavioral and social science><cancer disparity><cancer health disparity><cancer-related health disparity><career><career development><coronavirus disease 2019 crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic><coronavirus disease 2019 global health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 global pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 public health crisis><coronavirus disease crisis><coronavirus disease epidemic><coronavirus disease pandemic><coronavirus disease-19 global pandemic><coronavirus disease-19 pandemic><design><designing><developmental><disabled individual><disabled people><disparity in cancer><disparity in health><diverse populations><education research><educational level><enroll><ethnic subgroup><ethnicity group><evidence base><experience><graduate school><graduate student><health care><health communication><health disparities science><health disparity><heterogeneous population><improved><individualized cancer therapy><individuals with disabilities><innovate><innovation><innovative><interest><interventional strategy><low income individual><low income people><malignancy><multidisciplinary><neoplasm/cancer><ontogeny><outreach><personalized cancer therapy><personalized cancer treatment><physical science><population diversity><post-doc><post-doctoral><post-doctoral trainee><postbac><postbacc><preparations><programs><racial population><racial subgroup><research and development><research associates><research study><scientific accomplishments><scientific advances><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global health crisis><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global pandemic><skills><study design><success><training achievement><training level><training status><under representation of groups><under represented groups><under represented people><under represented populations><undergrad><undergraduate><undergraduate student><underrepresentation of groups><underrepresented people>