Cancer Associated Development of Education and Training (CADET) Summer Research Experience - Limited broad participation in the health care workforce has been identified as a major contributing factor to health outcome gaps, as has consistent standards of care and access to healthcare. The overarching goal of this training grant is to introduce undergraduate college students to cancer research, to increase their awareness of cancer outcome variations, and to stimulate their interest in cancer research careers, partly or entirely dedicated to these cancer challenges, through a summer research experience which will be entitled the Cancer Associated Development of Education and Training (CADET) Summer Research Experience. The specific aims guiding the achievement of the goal are 1) To implement the curriculum for the CADET Summer Research Experience by providing hands-on and conceptual research education and skills development; 2) To recruit 26 undergraduate students per year and provide support to ensure their completion of the CADET Summer Research Experience and stimulate their interest in careers in cancer biology, cancer epidemiology, and cancer outcome variations research; and 3) To incorporate the CADET Summer Research Experience as a vital addition to the Morehouse School of Medicine pathway programs to sustain it beyond the grant period. The research experience will be based on a framework for addressing cancer prevention and control from bench to bedside to community and will emphasize research methods targeted at reduction and elimination of cancer outcome variations. The research experience will be twelve weeks in duration and will feature an independent longitudinal laboratory project under the guidance of cancer researchers, supplemented by scientific conferences and lecture series, seminars, journal clubs, group projects, grand rounds, field trips, a workshop, career development, and mentoring. The research experience will be offered to undergraduate students in Georgia and throughout the United States. An evaluation plan will be implemented to constantly monitor the research experience and assess its success in achieving its objective of stimulating and supporting the development of the next generation of innovative biomedical investigators who will participate in the identification and elimination of cancer health outcome variations, and the results of the evaluation will be used for ongoing improvement.
