The CURE Paradigm:

Enhancing Workforce Diversity

Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities
If we don’t include as part of this 

agenda a very major focus on health 

disparities, we [will] have failed at 

one of our most important missions 

at NIH—a problem that has to be 

understood and ultimately solved.

Dr. Francis Collins

NIH Director, 2009-Present

NIH Town Hall
Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities

The CURE Paradigm:

Enhancing Workforce Diversity

1

Introduction

2

Preface

3

Acknowledgements

4

Why CURE?

7

What makes CURE special?

11

How do CURE’s funding opportunities fit together?

19

How is CURE growing today?

37

How will CURE grow in the future?

45

Appendix

53
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

2

Introduction

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is committed to making 

sure that all Americans share equally in the medical advances 

that result from cancer research and that current disparities in 

the burden of several diseases, including cancers, are reduced 

or eliminated. We have at least three important roles to play in 

efforts to achieve these important objectives.

First, we are helping to build a diverse workforce for the 

biomedical sciences—a critical step in reducing the burden 

of cancer for an increasingly diverse America. Providing a 

smoother path towards careers in science and medicine is an important means to attract and 

engage the nation’s most talented students, especially those from backgrounds traditionally 

underrepresented in cancer research and care. The resulting workforce, reflecting diverse 

cultural and research perspectives, can best ensure that our science addresses the health needs 

of all Americans. 

A second critical role for NCI is to ensure that the subjects who participate in our 

clinical research truly reflect our nation’s social, ethnic, and genetic diversity. Recruiting 

representation from diverse populations also benefits from having a diverse research staff 

conducting the recruitment, particularly in communities with inherent mistrust and 

misinformation. A diverse workforce and open, fair processes for enrollment of patients 

builds the trust required to enlist the research participants necessary to produce outstanding 

clinical science. 

A third aspect of NCI’s efforts to reduce disparities in the burden of cancer is to enhance 

our scientific efforts to understand the biological, behavioral, and socio-economic bases of 

those differences. We are doing this by supporting relevant and high quality work in every 

component of our research portfolio.

Over the course of my career, I have watched opportunities in biomedical research expand 

for individuals from varied backgrounds—but our efforts are far from fully successful. On this 

anniversary of the CURE program, we can celebrate its many successes in helping to build the 

diverse workforce we need for the future, while strengthening the commitment we have made 

to support its important work. 

Harold Varmus, M.D.

Director

National Cancer Institute
3

CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

 Preface

The path to a successful career in biomedical research is 

a challenging one. A passion for solving human problems 

through science must be combined with rigorous academic 

preparation; opportunities to train with established 

researchers in one’s field of interest; adequate financial 

resources; and mentors who help the young scientist optimize 

his or her talents, grow as a professional, and become an active 

contributor and leader in the research community.

Disparities in cancer care and cancer outcomes continue 

to diminish the length and quality of life of people from racial, ethnic, and cultural minorities 

and other underserved populations. For lack of opportunity, resources, and support, members 

of these populations also remain significantly underrepresented in the cancer research 

community, where they could make vital contributions to understanding and eliminating 

cancer health disparities. 

This document describes a model paradigm for increasing the number of competitive 

cancer and health disparities researchers across the research continuum—the Continuing 

Umbrella of Research Experiences (CURE). The following pages trace CURE’s goals, its 

12-year history, the training and career development opportunities available to grantees, 

the program’s achievements to date, and its projected future. 

You also will find in these pages compelling evidence of CURE’s accomplishments. In 

their own words, five CURE trainees describe the impact the program has had in enabling 

them to pursue cancer and health disparities research careers; the opportunities CURE 

participation has provided on the path to becoming established, competitive scientists; and 

their considerable successes and contributions to cancer disparities research. 

It is the legacy of two women before me with passion and commitment to train cancer 

researchers from racially and ethnically underrepresented groups that has made CURE 

possible. It is my hope that CURE may provide a blueprint for developing similar programs 

in the public, voluntary, and private cancer research communities and in the broader 

biomedical research community. The ultimate success of CURE and programs like it will 

be achieved when diversity in the research workforce is no longer an issue. 

Sanya A. Springfield, Ph.D.

Director 

Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities, National Cancer Institute
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

4

Acknowledgements

To those who first envisioned CURE 

and brought that vision to life:

Dr. Paulette Gray

Dr. Sanya Springfield

Ms. Bobby Rosenfeld

To CURE’s past Program Directors, 

who fostered the program and supported 

it early on:

Dr. Alexis Bakos

Dr. Eric Bailey

Dr. Lee Ann Bailey

Dr. Lester Gorelic

Dr. Brian Kimes

Dr. Belinda Locke

To CURE’s current Program Directors, 

who are sustaining, expanding, and 

fulfilling the CURE mission:

Dr. Nelson Aguila

Dr. Alessandra Bini

Dr. Carmen Moten

Dr. Peter Ogunbiyi

Dr. John Ojeifo

Dr. Anil Wali

To the analysts and staff who support the 

CRCHD Diversity Training Branch and 

its CURE grantees:

Ms. Angela Burgess

Ms. LaShell Gaskins

Ms. Susan Macharia

To CURE’s organizational partners, who 

continue to support CURE’s important work:

AACR for its MICR scholarships for CURE 

participants.

To the writers who have contributed 

to authoring this monograph:

Ms. Mary de Boer

Ms. Idalid Franco

Ms. Serena Khorsandian

Ms. Suzanne Reuben

Dr. Mary Ann Van Duyn

Lastly, and most importantly, to all of 

CURE’s students, trainees, grantees, and 

their mentors: each of whom are working 

to diversify the cancer workforce, one face 

at a time.
5

CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
6

How do we shape research training and career development opportunities to 

ensure that cancer researchers in the future reflect the nation’s unique demographic 

heterogeneity; have the skills and experiences to compete successfully for 

competitive research resources; are competent, valued participants in academic 

and institutional scientific reviews and study sections; and are fully prepared to 

face and embrace a new cancer landscape of challenges and opportunities? 

That was the question confronting the National Cancer Institute (NCI) just over a 

decade ago. Despite 30 years of funding Diversity Supplements and co-funding 

“targeted” programs, there still was a shortage of competitive grant applications 

and awards for underrepresented cancer researchers and institutions, and a paucity 

of participants from diverse backgrounds serving as NCI reviewers and advisors.

Simply put, the training of underrepresented scientists was facing a tremendous 

challenge. To ensure a steady flow of well-trained investigators to focus on the 

challenges of fighting cancer and, ultimately, increase the diversity of the cancer research 

workforce, NCI created the Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences, or CURE.
7

Why CURE?
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

8

Ethnic and racial groups continue to suffer higher rates of cancer 

incidence and mortality than the general population.1

 This disparity 

is compounded by a dearth of researchers and physicians from these 

populations entering cancer science.2

 While making up nearly a quarter 

of the United States’ population, underrepresented groups earn only 7.2 

percent of all doctoral degrees in the United States and comprise less than 

10 percent of its scientific workforce.3

 NCI believes that it is essential to 

have a cadre of well-trained, competitive researchers from the populations 

who suffer from cancer disproportionately—populations traditionally 

underrepresented in science careers—in order to produce research that can 

successfully reduce that burden.

The push by the National Institutes 

of Health (NIH) to significantly 

increase the number of researchers from 

underrepresented groups (a population 

that includes Hispanics/Latinos, African 

Americans, Native Americans, Alaskan 

Natives, Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, as 

well as individuals with disabilities or from 

underserved backgrounds) working in the 

basic, clinical, behavioral, and population 

sciences began in the early 1990s. While 

some organizations within NIH developed 

research training activities focused on 

specific topics of interest to underrepresented 

populations, these programs did not 

necessarily involve or develop the trainees 

they recruited. 

NCI, however, took a different 

approach. NCI recognized that today’s 

pipeline to a competitive career in cancer 

research is a multiyear, multi-institutional, 

educational, and research continuum from 

high school to the first professional research 

appointment—a pipeline, however, that 

struggles to retain individuals from racially 

and ethnically underrepresented populations. 

To repair this leakiness, NCI realized it 

would be necessary to address training at 

each stage of the biomedical research path. 

It thus created the Comprehensive Minority 

Biomedical Branch (CMBB), whose charge 

was to significantly increase the number of 

competitive cancer researchers from racially 

and ethnically underrepresented groups. 
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

9

In 1999, NCI/CMBB launched 

the Continuing Umbrella of Research 

Experiences (CURE) training program, 

and, today, as part of the Center to Reduce 

Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD), 

CURE is a holistic, national research 

training and career development strategy 

and philosophy. 

CURE has focused on the gaps 

NCI recognized; namely, to re-envision 

the pipeline for these underrepresented 

investigators, sealing its gaps at important 

career transition points, and extending 

it from high school until its trainees are 

established as independent, competitive 

researchers. CURE has created and adapted 

funding mechanisms to provide this type 

of systemic support and is still expanding 

its portfolio of training opportunities.

FAST FACTS ON TRAINING

» Hispanics/Latinos and African Americans 

comprise over 25% of the U.S. population, 

but only 3.2% of funded Principal 

Investigators on research project grants, 

5.5% on NIH training grants, and 10.7% 

on NIH fellowships.i

» African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, 

and Native Americans make up only 6% 

of all practicing doctors and 12% 

of medical school graduates.ii

» Women from underrepresented racial 

and ethnic groups find scientific careers 

particularly challenging: they earn only 

0.32% of all doctoral degrees in science, 

technology, and engineering (ST&E) 

fields,iii remain practically nonexistent in 

ST&E professorial positions (tenured or 

non-tenured),iv and—of those who obtain 

academic appointments—only a third 

receive Federal support.iii

i

Shavers V.L., et al. Barriers to racial/ethnic 

minority application and competition for NIH 

research funding. Journal of the National 

Medical Association. 2005;97(8). 

ii U.S. Department of Health and Human 

Services, Health Resources and Services 

Administration, Bureau of Health Professionals. 

The physician workforce: projections and 

research into current issues affecting supply and 

demand. Rockville (MD): HRSA; 2008 Dec.

iii National Science Foundation, Division 

of Science Resources Statistics. Women, 

minorities, and persons with disabilities in 

science and engineering: 2011. Special Report 

NSF 11-309. Arlington (VA): NSF; 2011. 

iv Nelson D.J., Brammer C.N. A national analysis 

of minorities in science and engineering faculties 

at research universities. 2nd ed. Norman (OK): 

Diversity in Science Association; 2010 Jan.
10

CURE Uses a Pipeline Approach

CURE Includes Ongoing Assessment 

and Expansion of Training and 

Career Development Mechanisms

CURE Emphasizes Mentorship

Peer Networking and Staff 

Commitment Support CURE Trainees

CURE Emphasizes Peer-Review 

Training Through Mentorship and 

Mock Reviews

CURE Ensures Protected Time
11

What makes CURE special?
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

12

In many respects, NCI’s and CRCHD’s CURE approach to reinforcing 

the standard training pipeline—sealing its leaks—is unique. CURE was—

and still is—the only NIH program to offer this type of long-term support 

to underrepresented students and professionals. 

Perhaps most importantly, CURE is 

exceptional in that it: 

» Values the range of views that a diverse 

trainee pool can contribute to science

» Links trainees with supportive academic 

mentors who model and 

teach success

» Offers ongoing support and 

encouragement for the issues faced 

by underrepresented scientists

Most distinctive, however, is CURE’s 

training approach, which revolves around 

six principal tenets. CURE, unlike other 

programs:

1. Works to repair the existing training 

pipeline, making it more effective for 

underrepresented minorities

2. Constantly expands its offerings and 

assesses their effectiveness

3. Includes mentorship in almost all of its 

funding opportunities

4. Provides trainees with extensive 

programmatic support and helps them 

build peer networks

5. Emphasizes and provides opportunities 

for training in peer review

6. Ensures trainees are allowed time that 

can be devoted strictly to research

Together, these six attributes serve as the 

foundation for CURE’s success.
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

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1. CURE uses a pipeline approach.

A competitive career in cancer research 

can only be achieved through experiences 

gained across many years and many different 

educational institutions—beginning, 

even, in high school. At each level of the 

biomedical research and educational process, 

CURE aims to provide substantive careerbuilding experiences—the kind to which 

many investigators from underrepresented 

backgrounds might not typically be exposed. 

The goal is to be consistently adding 

students into the pipeline, particularly 

at the early stages. Increasing the cadre 

of competitive cancer researchers from 

underrepresented populations requires 

a steady and growing supply of trainees. 

By reaching back to the high school level, 

CURE increases awareness of and helps 

spark interest in biomedical research. 

CURE also advises students about the 

preparation needed both in and out of 

school to succeed in scientific research.

Young investigators need to be confident that 

they have a funding trajectory that’s stable 

enough that there’s a career for them, and that 

if they keep coming with good [ideas], they’ll 

find support for them.

Dr. Francis Collins

NIH Director, 2009-Present
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

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2. CURE includes ongoing 

assessment and expansion 

of training and career 

development mechanisms.

CURE’s regular assessments identify 

gaps in training and career development 

opportunities and point to solutions to fill 

and bridge gaps between ideal practices and 

reality. Consistent monitoring and evaluation 

also allow CURE to remain flexible and 

creative—attributes crucial to facilitating the 

evolving and increasing comprehensiveness 

of the CURE program. Moreover, ongoing 

assessment of the CURE program promotes 

timely, rapid responsiveness in the face 

of dynamic and changing training needs, 

and strengthens CURE’s ability to help its 

trainees both identify and investigate topics 

at the leading edge of cancer and cancer 

health disparities science, and gain experience 

using related emerging technologies. 

3. CURE emphasizes mentorship.

CURE embraces role models who can 

bridge the gap between cultural perspectives 

and demonstrate the possibility and 

reality of success. Such mentors can serve 

as powerful motivators for individuals 

from underrepresented populations who 

are training in cancer research. Ideal 

mentoring involves an intense, longterm relationship between a mentor and 

trainee, encompassing both professional 

and personal domains and spanning 

several years—even extending far beyond 

the period of the structured mentorship. 

The mentor passes on strategies, values, 

skills, and knowledge while unifying and 

validating the experiences of the trainee. 

Both parties reap significant rewards as a 

result of the mentoring relationship and are 

transformed in the process—indeed, many 

well-mentored trainees one day become 

mentors themselves. 

NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

A medical student of color coming out of school 

is more likely to pursue research if they see 

someone who looks like them who is doing 

research. My students NEVER thought research 

was for them, until they met me.

Dr. June McKoy

Assistant Professor, Northwestern University
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

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KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CURE MENTORING RELATIONSHIP

Mentor

Shows that research is interesting and rewarding

Provides opportunities for laboratory experiences

Provides expertise in research area and techniques

Introduces the trainee to the scientific community

Helps the trainee understand scientific 

organizations, their relationships, and various 

aspects of their function

Provides needed resources and information

Acts as a sounding board for professional and 

personal matters

Provides encouragement

Offers personal attention and guidance

Helps trainee contend with academic barriers; 

provides advice about thesis and authorship issues

Provides advice about balance between home 

and laboratory

Provides advice about career options

Provides help with self-promotion and 

professional survival

Trainee

Learns different options and how to weigh them

Identifies appropriate institutions and laboratories

Learns to narrow field of study

Enhances research knowledge and skills; 

builds positively on strengths

Identifies potential advisors and collaborators

Learns scientific organizations and their functions

Brings new perspectives and values to the 

research community

Builds personal bonds and good interpersonal/

inter-professional relationships

Builds self-confidence

Counteracts isolation; develops social support 

and publication competence

Learns to evaluate abilities realistically

Learns good communication skills

Builds professional competence; learns career 

mobility and forecasting
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

16

4. Peer networking and 

staff commitment support 

CURE trainees. 

Underrepresented trainees often feel 

isolated and can benefit substantially from 

developing ties to a supportive community 

of individuals with similar backgrounds. 

To this end, CURE supports career 

development workshops that bring trainees 

together to discuss mutual problems and 

potential solutions, promote networking, 

and help trainees feel empowered to succeed. 

In addition, each CURE program staff 

member serves as a career navigator for his/

her trainees, helping them understand NIH 

grant mechanisms and processes, assisting 

them in evaluating when they are ready to 

move to the next level of training or career 

development, and providing suggestions 

on how to strengthen their technical and 

research skills.

With the protected time provided by the CURE 

grant, I could just focus on my research and not 

have to teach. It would have taken me longer 

to get to where I am now, and so it’s sort of the 

door that opened for me to be able to accomplish 

my goals.

Dr. Maria Elena Martinez, University of Arizona Mel and 

Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and Arizona 

Cancer Center

5. CURE emphasizes peer-review 

training through mentorship and 

mock reviews.

CURE provides a mentored peer-review 

experience to help trainees understand 

the NIH peer-review process (i.e., the 

process whereby scientists assess the grant 

applications of their fellow researchers 

and decide which proposals have the most 

scientific merit). CURE professional 

development workshops provide trainees 

with the opportunity to take part in both 

mock and actual peer-review sessions, 

during which the trainees learn grant-writing 

techniques, as well as how to improve their 

own grant applications through evaluating 

the strengths and weaknesses of others’ 

applications. CURE trainees who participate 

in this peer-review training often go on to 

become ad hoc and, later, full members of 

NCI’s internal grant review committees.
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

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6. CURE ensures protected time.

Academic institutions may require 

young researchers to earn their salaries 

by teaching, providing direct care to 

patients, or undertaking other substantial 

responsibilities—responsibilities that can 

leave relatively little time to devote to 

individual research. Several CURE grants 

offer the institution funds, which reduces the 

amount the institution must pay directly to 

the trainee. This coverage (called protected 

time) enables the trainee to focus solely on 

developing and pursuing research without 

the pressure of also generating revenues or 

having other job responsibilities.

CURE PRINCIPAL GOALS

» Increase the size of the talent pool

» Emphasize strategic and scientific areas 

of greatest need

» Expand and extend the period of training

CURE PROGRAM DIRECTORS

» Diversity of role models

» Continual assessment to promote 

progression from high school to first 

independent funding award

» Assistance with cultural adaptation

» Open communication and guidance via 

Mentoring Book and quarterly newsletter

PERSONALIZED AND CULTURALLY 

SENSITIVE PROFESSIONAL/CAREER 

DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

» Build interviewing and publication skills

» Network with NIH and NCI staff and peers

» Grant writing and grant review

» Research career expectations

» Competitive scientific poster session
Diversity Supplements

Predoctoral Fellowship Awards

Career Development and 

Transition Awards for Both 

Research and Clinical Science

Expanding the Diversity Training 

Landscape with PRCHD

Exploratory/Development Grants

18
19

How do CURE’s funding 

opportunities fit together?
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

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CURE has evolved thoughtfully, supplementing gaps in the pipeline 

as they have become apparent. CURE’s commitment to continual selfassessment has allowed this evolution to proceed smoothly. In 12 short 

years, CURE has managed to join seamlessly a variety of funding 

mechanisms, ensuring that underrepresented students, trainees, and new 

investigators—at each transition point in their academic training—have 

the experiences, resources, tools, and guidance needed to become highly 

productive researchers and advance to the next stage in their careers. 

Diversity Supplements 

The first step in CURE’s evolution came 

as a response to NCI’s initial, minimally 

effective efforts to recruit trainees 

from populations underrepresented in 

biomedical science. At the time, the 

Institute funded only supplements to 

existing grants—allowing current recipients 

of NCI support to apply for money to add 

more underrepresented candidates to their 

research staffs. These Diversity Research 

Supplements, however, were funded only 

for specified periods and grants—thus, 

when the Supplements ended, so did 

the students’ research training. Another 

NCI-sponsored program, in partnership 

with the National Institute for General 

Medical Sciences (NIGMS), provided 

similarly inconsistent training experiences. 

Examining this situation, the Center to 

Reduce Cancer Health Disparities soon 

saw that a more focused, longitudinal 

approach would be needed to launch 

trainees effectively into research. 

CURE pushed these efforts a step 

further. In addition to the Diversity 

Supplements, CURE developed funding 

opportunities targeting underrepresented 

cancer researchers and trainees at the high 

school, undergraduate, predoctoral (F31), 

career development (K01, K08, K23), career 

transition (K22), and early investigator (R21) 

stages (Figure 1). For more information on 

these funding mechanisms, please refer 

to Figure 2.

Since the inception and expansion of 

CURE-sponsored funding mechanisms in 
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CURE CONTINUUM OF TRAINING AND CAREER 

DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Diversity Research Diversity Research Diversity Research Diversity Research 

Supplements Supplements Supplements Supplements

High School National Research Career Development Career Development 

Supplements Service Awards (F31) Awards (K01, K08, K23) Awards (K01, K08, K23)

Including 

PRCHD Career Transition Career Transition ET CURE (P30)

Awards (K22) Awards (K22)

PRCHD

PRCHD Exploratory/Development 

Grants (R21)

PRCHD

Figure 1

ET CURE: Emerging Technologies Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences

PRCHD: Partnerships to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities

COMPETITIVE CURE FUNDING MECHANISMS

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service 

Award (F31): Provides support for predoctoral 

students pursuing a Ph.D., M.D./Ph.D., or 

equivalent combination of professional degrees 

in the biomedical, behavioral, and clinical 

sciences or in health services research.

Mentored Research Scientist Career 

Development Award (K01): Provides support to 

candidates with a research or health professional 

doctoral degree for intensive research career 

development under the guidance of an experienced 

mentor in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical 

sciences leading to research independence.

Mentored Clinical Scientist Career Development 

Award (K08): Provides an intensive, supervised 

research experience for health professionals with 

a clinical degree, D.V.M., or equivalent degree to 

acquire research expertise to pursue a career in 

laboratory-based biomedical cancer research.

Research Scientist Career Transition Award (K22): 

Provides protected time and nonmentored support 

for individuals who are advanced postdoctoral 

and/or newly independent research scientists and 

who have been in an independent position for 

fewer than two years at the time of application. 

Awardees from each of the three “mentored” 

awards are eligible to apply for the K22 award.

Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career 

Development Award (K23): Provides support 

to research-oriented clinicians to develop 

independent research skills and gain experience 

in advanced methods and experimental approaches 

needed to conduct patient-oriented research. 

Candidates must have completed their medical 

training, including subspecialty, if applicable, 

before the award. 

Exploratory/Developmental Grant (R21): 

Provides support to investigators who have 

completed postdoctoral training and may need 

extra time to develop a full Research Project 

Grant (R01) proposal. This R21 enables the grantee 

to conduct basic science studies on the causes 

and mechanisms of cancer.

Figure 2
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1999, the number of award recipients has 

risen significantly, reaching a higher level 

than any of NCI’s earlier efforts. (Figure 

3 depicts the growth of the various CURE 

mechanisms since Fiscal Year 2000.)

The foundation of CURE continues 

to be Diversity Supplements to existing 

NCI grants, thanks to the Supplement 

mechanism’s versatility. Supplements are 

available to trainees at any point in their 

academic and career development and 

serve as an excellent introduction to cancer 

research. CURE, however, has helped 

NCI target these Supplements to reach 

more diverse, underrepresented, and young 

awardees—trainees whom CURE actively 

recruits into the applicant pool. (Figure 4 

offers a breakdown of CURE-sponsored 

Diversity Supplement trainees by race/

ethnicity and demographics.) These 

Supplements have recently been used in 

attempts to recruit college and high school 

students into the program; they have, 

however, not been particularly effective 

at this type of specific targeting—thereby 

inspiring CURE to develop new programs 

to reach out to specific demographic 

groups. (See “How Will CURE Grow 

in the Future?” for more information 

on CURE’s evolving high school and 

undergraduate outreach programs.) 

(University of Georgia (UGA) doctoral 

candidate, Eladio Abreu describes 

his experience as a CURE-sponsored 

Diversity Supplement recipient in 

Interview 1.)

GROWTH IN CURE MECHANISMS

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

2000

2001

20022003200420052006200720082009

Mentored Patient-Oriented Research 

Career Development Award (K23)

Nonmentored Research Scientist 

Career Transition Award (K22)

Mentored Clinical Scientist Career 

Development Award (K08)

Mentored Research Scientist Career 

Development Award (K01)

Predoctoral Fellowship Award (F31)

Fiscal Year

Number of Recipients

Key

Figure 3
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DIVERSITY SUPPLEMENT ELIGIBILITY DISTRIBUTION

250

200

150

100

50

0

2001

20022003200420052006200720082009

Disabled

American Indian or Alaska Native

Asian

Black or African American

Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

Fiscal Year

Total Number of Awardees

Key

White/Caucasian

Hispanic or Latino

Figure 4
24

INTERVIEW 1:

Finding Science on the Football Field

Eladio Abreu, Ph.D. Candidate

University of Georgia 

Diversity Supplement Awardee

At 16, Eladio Abreu and his parents had high 

expectations for his studies and his future. 

“My parents always taught that you can do whatever 

you want...don’t let anyone tell you that you aren’t 

good enough, that you’re not smart enough, that 

you’re not determined enough,” says Abreu, a Ph.D. 

candidate at the University of Georgia (UGA). “I’ve 

had an interest in medicine since I was very young.”

His strong interest in science would not have been 

enough for him to overcome the preconceived 

notions formed about him when he moved from 

New York to Georgia in 10th grade, if not for 

the support and guidance of his parents. 

“I’m black, in a southern school, and kind of a bigger 

guy, so I was pre-judged when I first came into my 

new high school. All of the teachers kept asking 

me, ‘Are you going to play football for us? What 

position do you play?’” recalls Abreu. “I got that 

question over and over again, instead of, ‘Do you 

like science? Do you like math? What stimulates 

you mentally?’ It was always football and sports.”

Trying to find his place at a new school and feeling 

the pressure to play football, Abreu joined the 

school’s team. Standing 5’9” and weighing 230 

lbs., the wide-shouldered sophomore played 

for only one year as a defensive tackle before 

his football and his future came into conflict.

“I was late for practice one day because I was taking 

my advanced placement biology exam,” says Abreu. 

“When I explained this to the coach, he literally told 

me, ‘What do you think is going to make you successful 

and help you get into college—getting a good grade 

on that bio exam, or out here throwing this football?’”

That very day, with the support of his parents, 

Abreu quit the game. That decision proved fateful.

As an undergraduate student, Abreu was first on the 

pre-med track at Morehouse University. “I ended 

up being not that interested in a medical career; it

was really the research that seemed to spark my

interest,” he recalls. “Everyone was ‘pigeonholed’ 

in this pre-med track. What I wanted to know was

how the facts are uncovered, how the pathways 

are discovered.”

His interest in research solidified through the National 

Science Foundation-funded Research Experience for 

Undergraduates at UGA. In this 10-week summer 

program, Abreu spent half his time in the genetics 

lab and half in the computational biology lab. 

As a CURE trainee for two years (on a Diversity 

Supplement to a parent grant at UGA), Abreu had 

the opportunity to expand his knowledge in his 

area of interest: telomerase regulation through 

trafficking in the cells, particularly in cancer cells.

Abreu says that without CURE, things would have 

been a lot more difficult for him. “Having CURE 

support enabled me to move my data collection along 

quickly because I didn’t have to teach, giving me a 

big advantage over my peers at UGA.” He adds that 

“between teaching responsibilities and research and 

also travel, I am not sure I would have been able to 

get to where I am today without it. The progress 

reports also helped me be a little more critical. 

Having to reflect on my progress—reexamining and 

prioritizing experiments and projects—helped me 

make sure that I was always moving forward.”

Now, with only one year left before receiving his 

doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology, Abreu 

laughs about the coaches who once told him he didn’t 

“look smart enough to be a scientist” and that the only 

way he would get into college was by being an athlete.

Abreu hopes to motivate others to enter the 

research field, where more students would find the 

chance to use their intellectual skills for success.

“Everyone needs to know, particularly in the black 

community, that if you want to go to school and you 

want to be successful, sports and entertainment 

aren’t the only ways,” Abreu says. “We have a wealth 

of opportunities—like CURE—that you can use to get 

you there.”

CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

25

Predoctoral Fellowship Awards

In order to target specific points in the career 

development pipeline, CURE added to the 

Diversity Supplements. CURE’s program 

directors were particularly concerned about 

the predoctoral period, in which many 

underrepresented trainees seemed to be lost 

from the pipeline. In the late 1990s, less than 

1 percent of NIH’s predoctoral training 

grants were held by underrepresented 

individuals. Indeed, this transition point 

still appears to be particularly crucial in the 

career progress of underrepresented trainees: 

while 17.4 percent of all bachelor’s degrees 

in science, technology, and engineering were 

earned by underrepresented minorities in 

2008, the group received only 7.2 percent of 

that year’s doctorates.2

To respond to this gap, CURE added the 

existing National Research Service Award 

(F31) to its mechanisms, using the funds 

to support researchers in the biomedical, 

behavioral, health services, or clinical 

sciences. CURE paired this award with a 

series of career development opportunities 

aimed at ensuring that specific technical 

skills and networks—crucial for candidates’ 

advancement in the field—are built.

Of particular note, since 2000, the F31 

fellowship mechanism has experienced a 

steady increase in new awards, as depicted 

in Figure 5. Originally an almost moribund 

mechanism, the F31 population has grown 

steadily, thanks to extensive marketing on 

the part of CURE program directors. The 

Fiscal Year 2010-2011 period was particularly 

successful; having consistently supported 

increasing levels of trainees over the past 

decade, CURE sponsored a total of 29 new 

awards in Fiscal Year 2010—the highest 

number for the mechanism. These CURE 

predoctoral trainees are involved in areas of 

research varying from Kaposi sarcoma to 

colorectal cancer—with many applications 

for disparity-experiencing populations. 

They are, moreover, being sustained in their 

research and allowed the protected time 

to pursue it fully. At this career juncture, 

CURE is trying to help trainees establish a 

solid foundation for future career success. 

(See Interview 2 for a profile of F31 recipient 

Elva Arredondo of the San Diego State 

School of Public Health.)

GROWTH IN F31 GRANTEES

35

ees

30

ant

25

20

15

10

Number of Gr

5

0

01

0203040506070809

000

0

010

2

2

2020202020202020

2

Fiscal Year

Figure 5
26

CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

INTERVIEW 2: 

Changing Your Culture, Changing a Lifestyle–

Finding Your Research Potential

Dr. Elva Arredondo, Assistant Professor

San Diego State School of Public Health 

F31 Awardee

When Elva Arredondo moved to the United States 

from Mexico at age 13, she never knew it would be the 

start of her career.

“Our entire lifestyle changed...we wanted to learn 

more English so we watched more television,” she 

recalls. In addition, her mother—a single parent to 

three children—had to work longer hours and wasn’t 

as available to take the family out after school. “We 

were living a more sedentary lifestyle.”

Adopting a more sedentary lifestyle was not the only 

change Arredondo experienced in moving to America. 

“When we first got here, we loved going to fast-food 

restaurants because it meant that we were making 

it in this country...[going to] those types of places 

symbolized to us that we were part of the culture,”

she says.

Arredondo never anticipated that the lifestyle changes 

she experienced as a preteen would lead her into a 

career as a researcher. After all, she started school 

wanting to be an oceanographer. 

But those early experiences made her reflect on 

her own cultural background and led her to examine 

how culture plays a role in shaping people’s health 

practices. 

“I understand what the challenges are for people who 

immigrate to this country,” she says. “I can relate to a 

lot of them.”

Indeed, Dr. Arredondo’s experiences as an immigrant 

to the United States have provided her with the type 

of cultural insight CURE hopes its trainees will bring 

to cancer research. As an Assistant Professor at San 

Diego State University, her current research program 

examines social determinants of Latinas’ health 

practices and develops community-based physical 

activity interventions. 

“Often, I would see people in the dominant group 

making these huge assumptions, or not understanding 

why people from minority groups would behave in a 

certain way, and I felt like I sort of had the perspective 

and understood why it was that Latinos don’t smoke 

and what cultures are adopting smoking habits. Why 

is it that Latinas are not engaging in physical activities? 

I felt that I had that. I understood the culture and why 

people were and were not engaging in certain health 

practices...I understood how income and culture could 

play a role.”

Arredondo credits her success to her family, 

who always told her, “It’s up to you; if you want to 

make it and do what you want to do—you’ll need 

to go to college.”

She made it through her undergraduate and 

graduate degrees on scholarships, went on to become 

a CURE trainee through an F31 predoctoral grant, 

and now is the recipient of an NCI R21 Exploratory/

Development grant focused on the determinants of 

cervical cancer screening among Latinas.

“CURE was a huge stepping stone for me,” she says. 

“It opened up a vast number of doors.”

The funding provided by CURE also has allowed her 

to focus on her research. She has not had to take on 

teaching assistant positions that Arredondo says “can 

detract from the science and quality of work.”

Moreover, “the experience of writing a proposal 

for the F31 grant helped me write competitive 

proposals as a postdoc and, later, as a faculty 

member. People are really impressed that I have had 

this experience,” she says. “They would say, ‘This 

is a feather in your cap,’ and I didn’t understand it 

until I began to engage in grant writing and I was 

like, wow, that experience really gave me the skills 

necessary to write strong grants early on”—skills, it 

seems, that are continuing to pay dividends, helping 

her secure her current R21 funding.
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

27

Career Development and Transition Awards for both 

Research and Clinical Science

With the growth of F31 awards, CURE 

soon identified another gap in the career 

development pipeline. Few of CURE’s 

F31- or Supplement-supported trainees 

seemed to be independently winning either 

NIH Research Project Grants (R01s)—the 

gold standard for research success—or 

equivalent grants from other important 

funding organizations like the National 

Science Foundation, the Department of 

Defense, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, 

the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 

or the American Cancer Society. Indeed, 

studies showed that obtaining independent 

research funding was particularly hard 

for underrepresented minorities more 

broadly—National Science Foundation 

data indicate that such groups are almost 20 

percent less likely than their white or Asian 

peers to receive federal grant funding.2 

Preparing CURE recipients to apply 

successfully for such funding seemed a 

crucial patch for the pipeline. To this end, 

CURE’s directors developed a three- to 

five-year Mentored Research Scientist 

Career Development Award (K01) that 

requires recipients to submit NIH R01 

grant applications as part of the training 

process. To ensure that such applications are 

of the highest quality, CURE includes an 

innovative grant review experience as part 

of the training period—trainees participate 

in the same type of peer-review examination 

that NIH uses in evaluating grant 

applications. This experience is designed 

to teach trainees both how the peer-review 

process works and, by critiquing the 

science of other investigators’ work, how to 

identify and strengthen weaknesses in their 

own applications. CURE also hopes that 

having this experience in grant review will 

encourage trainees to one day serve on NIH 

and/or other review committees—another 

area where the perspectives of individuals 

from underrepresented populations are still 

lacking.

The K01 Career Development 

Award includes a particular emphasis on 

mentorship. NCI believes that one of the 

best ways to teach success is to model it. 

This belief appears to be supported by 

experience; grantees routinely cite the 

mentorship component of the training 

program as one of its most positive and 

valuable features.3,4 Mentoring for CURE 

K01 grantees often focuses on four key 

areas: improving the trainee’s research 

skills, providing motivation and personal 

growth, providing career guidance, and 

promoting the trainee for scholarships and 

other career development opportunities. 

(Dr. Maria Elena Martinez describes her K01 

CURE research experience in Interview 3.)

This original K01 Mentored Research 

Scientist Career Development Award has 

since been complemented by a pair of 
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

28

additional Mentored Career Development 

Awards (K08 and K23) focused on training 

physician scientists. This expansion 

came as CRCHD increasingly realized 

that its training and career development 

opportunities were reaching Ph.D.’s 

and Ph.D. candidates pursuing basic 

cancer research, but very few grants were 

being awarded to individuals working 

in prevention, the clinical sciences, or 

interdisciplinary fields. As part of this 

realization, CURE’s directors also 

decided to offer Diversity Supplements to 

existing NCI grants in clinical oncology 

training, cancer prevention and control, 

and population sciences—areas outside the 

basic science spectrum. Supporting clinical 

researchers was key to broadening the 

impact of CURE’s philosophy as well as 

cancer research efforts. Similarly, supporting 

underrepresented physicians and clinical 

researchers allows for greater translational 

impact and effectiveness across the cancer 

continuum, since cancer disparities are 

found and addressed not only in basic 

science laboratories. (In Interview 4, 

Dr. Levi Garraway discusses how his K08 

grant helped launch him into a full-blown 

research science career.)

These Mentored Career Development 

Awards were envisioned as stepping stones 

to the attainment of Nonmentored Career 

Transition Awards (K22), commonly seen 

as precursors to independent R01 grants. 

To further support this transition, CURE 

added the K22 Career Transition Award to 

its portfolio of funding mechanisms in 2001. 

The K22, like the K01, requires an R01 or 

R01-type application during the training 

period. Further, while the CURE-sponsored 

K22 originally focused on supporting basic 

research, its scope has since been expanded 

to include translational, clinical, and 

population research as CURE’s scope has 

increased as well. 

Taken together, these Career 

Development Awards—the mentored K01 for 

basic science research, the mentored K08 and 

K23 awards for clinical research, and the K22 

Nonmentored Career Transition Award—

form the basis of a strong and continuous 

research training and career development 

pipeline that is building a supply of trained 

investigators ready and able to progress 

through the scientific ranks. Indeed, the 

number of awardees has grown substantially 

since the K-series was implemented in Fiscal 

Year 2000—awardees are now working in 

and expanding the diversity of research 

science. (See Figure 6 for the annual growth 

of K-series awards.) Most importantly, 

however, awardees are progressing with 

great success. The recipients of CURE’s 

K-series Career Development and Transition 

Awards are more successful than any other 

CURE trainees in their applications for R01 

independent research grants: the cumulative 

success rate from 2005-2010 averaged 25 
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

29

percent, with the clinician scientists on K08s 

(though small in number) performing most 

strongly, being awarded R01 funding, on 

average, 38 percent of the time, as depicted in 

Table 1. (In Interview 5, Dr. Annette Khaled 

reflects on the role CURE’s K22 Career 

Transition Award played in her successful 

R01 independent research grant applications.)

GROWTH IN K-SERIES CAREER DEVELOPMENT AWARDS

25

20

15

10

5

0

2000

2001

20022003200420052006200720082009

Mentored Patient-Oriented Research 

Development Award (K23)

Nonmentored Research Scientist 

Career Transition Award (K22)

Mentored Clinical Scientist Career 

Development Award (K08)

Mentored Research Scientist Career 

Development Award (K01)

Fiscal Year

Number of New Awards

Key

2010

Figure 6

CAREER DEVELOPMENT AWARDEES’ COMPETITIVENESS IN OBTAINING 

R01 INDEPENDENT RESEARCH PROJECT GRANTS (2005-2010)

Award Submitted Applications Funded Awards

K01 220 59 (27%)

K08 13 5 (38%)

K22 15 5 (33%)

K23 94 15 (16%)

TOTAL 342 84 (25%)

Table 1
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

INTERVIEW 3: 

The Mentee Becomes the Mentor

Dr. Maria Elena Martinez, Professor

University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health 

and Arizona Cancer Center

K01 Awardee

For Dr. Elena Martinez, graduating with her 

bachelor’s degree was all she had ever planned for—

until she started work as a research assistant at the 

M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

“I was told that they would like whoever was hired for 

the research position to use the project they would 

be working on as part of their thesis for a master’s 

degree.” Which, she says, she was not even 

considering. 

“But I wanted the job. So I agreed and enrolled in a 

master’s program.” That, Dr. Martinez says, is what 

“began it all.”

Dr. Martinez credits her mentor at the time, Dr. Jan 

van Eys, for introducing her to the field of research. 

His passion for research and scientific inquiry were 

a motivating factor behind her pursuit of a master’s 

degree and, subsequently, her doctoral degree.

“He was really encouraging,” Dr. Martinez says, 

“but CURE was essential” to landing a faculty 

position under the direction of Dr. David Alberts at 

the Arizona Cancer Center. Dr. Alberts, who is now 

the Center’s Director and Dr. Martinez’s current 

mentor, brought her on to work in a large Program 

Project Grant and was able to offer Dr. Martinez a 

faculty position through funding provided by a 

CURE Diversity Supplement to the grant. 

Once on the Diversity Supplement, which provided 

100 percent of her salary, Dr. Alberts told her she 

would have to write a grant application to maintain 

her funding. 

“I was awarded a K01 grant, and that gave me five 

years of stable funding to concentrate on my research 

and what I was going to do in my academic career.”

Dr. Martinez says that without the K01 it would 

have taken her much longer to get to where she 

is today—a Professor of Epidemiology at the 

University of Arizona’s Arizona Cancer Center.

Now, as a professor, Dr. Martinez mentors both 

undergraduate and master’s-level students. “If you 

are lucky enough to have received great mentoring as 

I have,” Dr. Martinez says, “you know what it takes 

to be a good mentor, and hopefully you can, as they 

say, pay it forward.”

Almost eight years 

after Dr. Martinez 

received her Diversity 

Supplement, Rachel 

Zenuk, a student 

at the University 

of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of 

Public Health, was experiencing the same “what’s 

next” confusion experienced by Dr. Martinez. That 

confusion ended when she met Dr. Martinez at a 

summer research program.

“She was a huge factor in my decision to attend 

graduate school,” Zenuk says. “I have a lab 

background, but I am not completely a lab person. 

Dr. Martinez is a public health person. She has one 

foot in the lab and one foot in policy, the community, 

and actually getting patient interaction and community 

interaction.” And Zenuk admits, “I didn’t really know 

where my place was in higher education,” but that 

“seeing a woman like Dr. Martinez excelling...and 

having her as a mentor really helped mold me, both as 

a student and a researcher.”

Zenuk says that before becoming a CURE trainee 

and having Dr. Martinez as her mentor, she was 

confined to one lab and one project. Now, through a 

Diversity Supplement, Zenuk has been able to assist 

Dr. Martinez on many projects.

“The CURE program just opened up my eyes and 

gave me a broader perspective on research and its 

different avenues.”

For Dr. Martinez, having the opportunity to help 

students like Zenuk is of the utmost importance.

“I have seen the unfortunate outcome of mentees 

who do not have a good mentor and it’s totally 

different...they end up struggling a great deal, lost, 

and not knowing where to go,” says Dr. Martinez.

Like Dr. Martinez, Zenuk would like the opportunity 

to “pay it forward” through the CURE program. 

“Dr. Martinez is in such an extraordinary position of 

power. It’s wonderful to be able to look up to her and 

model myself after her, and then turn around and give 

back to other students.”

30
31

INTERVIEW 4: 

Getting Off the Launching Pad—

A Son’s Perspective

Dr. Levi Garraway, Assistant Professor of Medicine 

Harvard University Medical School 

K08 Awardee

Research has always been a part of Dr. Levi 

Garraway’s life. His father, a plant biologist and faculty 

member at The Ohio State University, was always 

very passionate about the kind of research he did.

“I think that my early sense that research could be 

fun came from him,” says Dr. Garraway, a Career 

Development Award (K08) CURE trainee. “He always 

viewed my going to medical school as a detour from what 

(to him) was really important, which was the science.”

Although Dr. Garraway, an Assistant Professor of 

Medicine at Harvard University Medical School, 

has had an interest in research since high school, 

it was not until a stint in an organic chemistry lab 

the summer after his first year of college that he 

realized research would be a big part of his life. 

“I thought I wanted to go into medicine and be a 

clinician,” says Dr. Garraway, who was in the midst of 

his dissertation research on infectious diseases when 

he switched his path to cancer research. “I was in 

the middle of my Ph.D. training when I found out...

my father had prostate cancer,” says Dr. Garraway. “I 

ended up spending a lot of my spare time browsing the 

medical literature, and I actually was surprised at how 

little knowledge there was at that time in terms of basic 

biology and how that could be translated into the clinic.”

This experience, he says, stayed with him and 

caused his long-term research interest to take shape. 

“Cancer presents both a new set of challenges 

and a new opportunity because of the ability of 

genomic technologies to elucidate so many aspects 

of cancer that really weren’t visible before.” 

Dr. Garraway’s (and his colleagues’) research 

works to create “personalized cancer medicine,” 

by recognizing critical genetic mutations that may 

characterize distinct subtypes of cancer. He says 

the question then becomes how to design and 

develop drugs that will block the corresponding 

altered proteins or cellular pathways. 

These investigators currently are working to apply 

a variety of genomic and systemic approaches to 

explain the biology of cancers that are linked to 

particular genetic alterations that occur commonly. 

Their hope is to biopsy and profile the tumors of 

cancer patients and “identify the particular genetic 

alterations that are most important for each tumor,”

Dr. Garraway explains. Physicians would then assign a 

treatment regimen that is tailored to that information.

“If we take one molecular subtype at a time and come 

up with a better way to target that tumor subtype, then 

that’s a victory for all of cancer,” says Dr. Garraway.

Although Dr. Garraway credits his father for 

providing him with both the interest in research 

and a cause, Dr. Garraway says it was the CURE 

program that provided him with the essential 

support he needed to enter the field.

“The K08 was critical,” he says. “If I had not gotten 

the K, I think there would have been a question as 

to whether I could have landed the initial faculty 

position—certainly, here at Harvard... If you have a 

K, you have a shot. If you don’t have a K, you might 

still have a shot...but it’s much tougher going,”

because “being able to show that you can win 

peer-reviewed funding is critical in terms of making 

you attractive for starting faculty positions.”

He adds that the protected time provided by CURE 

(and the K award) lessened concerns that weigh 

on so many young scientists. In particular, he says 

he did not have to worry about “where my salary 

is going to come from,” but instead could focus on 

“what I want to do and how I want to build my lab...

with the protected time, I was able to start generating 

data for publications and applying for other grants.”

Research is not for everyone, Dr. Garraway makes a 

point of saying. For him, “having been hit personally 

by cancer, it all feeds into the feeling that this is a 

worthwhile pursuit to which to dedicate a life’s work.”

He also says the K grant provided by CURE was 

“a critical boost in getting me off the launching 

pad in terms of starting my research program.”

Dr. Garraway’s father passed away in 1999, four 

years into his battle with cancer. “Unfortunately, he 

died before he could see all of this come to fruition 

in my life,” he says, “but he was always passionate 

about the investigational path and would have been 

thrilled to see it play out this way....I think what I am 

doing right now is definitely what I am meant to do.”

CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES
32

INTERVIEW 5: 

Lost in the Classroom: A Need for Strong Mentorships

Dr. Annette Khaled, Associate Professor

University of Central Florida 

K22 Awardee

When Dr. Annette Khaled graduated from the 

University of California, Irvine, she was like many 

recent graduates—she didn’t know where to go 

next in life. UC Irvine was a large state school, 

and as Khaled recalls, this meant that “every 

class had hundreds of students, so you had very 

little interaction with professors...in terms of how 

they got to where they were in their careers.”

Indeed, the years after college were disorienting; 

Khaled knew she enjoyed and wanted to pursue 

research but was uncertain about the next 

steps. According to Khaled, “My problem was 

how to get there, how to follow that path.”

So she began work as a technician, entering different 

research laboratories relatively haphazardly, all the 

while piecing together a picture of what she wanted 

to do with her future. Things only really started 

moving, however, when she entered a master’s 

program at California State University at Long 

Beach and was paired with a mentor—someone 

who could guide and train her, and offer advice 

and motivation. In fact, it was only because of her 

mentor’s offhand suggestion—“Why don’t you get a 

Ph.D.? That is what you want to do with your career 

and it would really be good for you.”—that Khaled 

entered a doctoral program in molecular genetics and 

microbiology at the University of Florida in 1992.

From there, Khaled found a position as a postdoctoral 

trainee at NCI, which was where she first heard 

of the CURE program. Still rather intimidated by 

the difficulty of getting a faculty position, Khaled 

applied for CURE’s K22 career transition support. 

The CURE program seemed to be “an opportunity 

to progress my research and strengthen my 

competitiveness to help me reach my ultimate goal—

getting a faculty position and starting my own lab.”

As a CURE K-series trainee, Khaled participated in 

CURE’s mock review program. According to Khaled, 

the review “was very helpful because I was able to 

see how a review really works...how the proposals 

are actually evaluated before they get a score.”

CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

Before the review, for instance, Khaled hadn’t 

appreciated that the whole review group of 10 or 15 

individuals ranked grants, not just the one or two 

primary reviewers. More importantly, she hadn’t 

realized that the 

group score was 

just as important as 

the ranking of the 

primary reviewers. 

As an already 

semi-independent 

researcher—like most K22 recipients—Khaled said 

this realization “really helped me to think how to best 

write my grant proposals so I could get through that 

process better and have a competitive application...

the grant proposal, it actually has to be written 

for two audiences: the primary reviewers—who 

need the details; and then the rest of the reviewers 

and study section members who are going to 

evaluate the proposal in a matter of minutes.”

This experience was probably key, Khaled believes, 

to her rapid receipt of two R01 grants while she 

was still a K22 CURE grantee. In addition to the 

K22’s mock review opportunity, the award’s 

financial support also was crucial to her success—

it helped her quickly start a lab, hire research 

staff, and advance to assistant professor. Without 

CURE, Khaled believes “I would not have been 

able to achieve that in that period of time.”

Today, Khaled is an Assistant Professor at the 

University of Central Florida, where she studies 

how the immune system’s lymphocytes normally 

proliferate and die—a process she attempts to 

extrapolate and apply to what happens in abnormal 

cell growth, as in tumors. Khaled still wonders, 

however, how things would have gone if she had had 

better mentorship early on. “I would have done things 

much more quickly than I did,” she admits. “I probably 

lost five or six years.” However, CURE was able to 

help Khaled come from behind—the CURE funding 

enabled her to become competitive and accelerated 

her career progress after years spent finding her way. 

As Khaled notes, “Having the K22 award really 

sped up the time that I could develop and start 

the lab going and move to get additional funding.”

Khaled applied for CURE because it seemed 

a good way to fulfill her dreams of having an 

independent laboratory—and CURE helped 

her realize her dream in truly record time.
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

33

Expanding the Diversity Training Landscape with PRCHD

CURE expanded once again in 2001, when 

it made its CURE funding opportunities 

available to trainees in another of 

the Center to Reduce Cancer Health 

Disparities’ programs: the Partnerships 

to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities 

(PRCHD, formerly known as the Minority 

Institution/Cancer Center Partnership 

program). PRCHD’s scientists work 

as part of collaborative partnerships 

between institutions serving underserved 

communities and NCI-designated Cancer 

Centers. The PRCHD attempts to increase 

the involvement of diverse scientists in 

biomedical cancer and cancer health 

disparities research while broadening the 

reach and community-level applicability 

of high-tech research generated at NCIdesignated Cancer Centers.

Through the linking of CURE with 

PRCHD, CURE trainees now have 

access to the types of investigational 

research opportunities available only 

at research institutions—for instance, 

planning pilot and exploratory research, 

often investigating novel areas and using 

innovative technologies. Moreover, as 

CURE has sponsored more clinical scientific 

applications, the number of translational 

research projects PRCHD trainees and 

scientists are undertaking has grown, 

again expanding the research landscape 

for CURE trainees. In this stimulating 

environment, PRCHD CURE trainees 

gain not only valuable research 

experience but also the ability to 

build professional networks—if 

not full-fledged research careers—

within prominent cancer research 

institutions. Thanks to this array 

of opportunities, the PRCHD 

program has attracted increasing 

numbers of trainees. As Figure 7 

indicates, the numbers of PRCHD 

trainees at all educational levels 

participating in CURE have grown 

substantially since the program’s 

inception, particularly at the 

undergraduate and graduate career 

PRCHD TRAINEES 

BY CAREER STAGE AND YEAR 2118

2001-2008

2009

Number of Trainees

Key

338

181

360

173

851383

8

High

School

Undergrad Grad Postdoc Med

Fellows

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Figure 7
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

34

stages. Just as with the broad Diversity 

Supplements, the PRCHD program allows 

investigators to enter disparity-related 

cancer research at any point in their 

career trajectory. (See the example below 

of the role that partnerships can play in 

promoting biomedical career training.) 

PROMOTING BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH TRAINING THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS

The Partnership to Reduce Cancer Health 

Disparities between the University of 

Massachusetts at Boston (UMB) and the 

Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (UMB-DF/

HCC) was established in 2003. UMB-DF/HCC 

uses its CURE funding to train and support 

underrepresented students, postdoctoral fellows, 

and nursing Ph.D. candidates. However, unlike 

many CURE-sponsored attempts to reach out to 

young trainees, the UMB-DF/HCC partnership 

has been highly successful, in large part due 

to the long-term support and follow-up the 

program provides. The partnership encourages 

undergraduate students from the University of 

Massachusetts at Boston (UMB) to apply for 

an innovative two-year program that includes 

a mentored internship for two summers—in 

basic research, clinical research, or population 

science—as well as ongoing work opportunities 

and career support during the academic year. 

In addition, the partnership has been particularly 

successful at targeting underrepresented 

populations: 85 percent of UMB students 

participating in CURE identify as either black or 

Hispanic, 41 percent are immigrants to the United 

States, 50 percent are the first in their families 

to attend college, and 78 percent are female. 

Most encouraging, however, is the positive 

impact these research experiences are 

supplying. CURE participants uniformly find 

the research exposure helpful in both defining 

and strengthening their biomedical career 

goals. As in many of CURE’s other programs, 

participants also highly value the support 

provided by their mentors. Moreover, as a result 

of the CURE-sponsored partnership, UMB-DF/

HCC has recorded that an increased number 

of its students indicate interest in and, indeed, 

eventually go on to pursue careers in biomedical 

cancer research. The exposure, support, and 

long-term connections the PRCHD program 

provides can be integral to encouraging research 

participation by underrepresented trainees.
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

35

Exploratory/Development Grants

Most recently, in Fiscal Year 2010, 

the Center to Reduce Cancer Health 

Disparities expanded CURE’s research 

training opportunities once again. 

This expansion came as a response 

to the observation that many CURE 

grantees—particularly those working 

within the highly innovative, exploratory 

environment of the PRCHD program—

seemed to need additional time to gather 

all of the data necessary to submit a 

competitive R01 proposal. To this end, 

CURE repurposed NCI’s R21 Exploratory 

Grant, using it as a mechanism to allow 

extra time for scientists from diverse 

backgrounds to complete their pilot studies 

in basic cancer research, thereby gathering 

sufficient data for an R01 application. 

In the first two rounds of R21 awards, 

CURE funded 10 of 93 applications; 28 

of these applicants (30%) were previous 

or current CURE trainees—trainees who 

ultimately made up 50 percent of the final 

grant awardees. This strong representation 

of CURE recipients indicates that the R21 

is functioning as envisioned—acting as 

another link in the pipeline and boosting 

underrepresented trainees for a final push 

towards the independent NIH Research 

Project Grant.
36

Competitiveness

Publications

Scientific Reviews

Mentorship

Exportability
37

How is CURE growing today? NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

38

CURE has made significant strides in attracting and supporting young 

scientists from populations that are underrepresented in cancer research. 

Through creative expansion of and addition to NCI’s available grant 

opportunities, CURE is now supporting trainees in almost every 

state in the United States and at almost every point in the training 

continuum. Since the program’s inception, CURE has awarded almost 

5,000 grants, reaching almost 2,600 students and early-stage researchers. 

This growth can be seen in the success of CURE grantees—their 

competitiveness in obtaining independent research funding, their 

contributions to the scientific literature, their participation on peerreview boards, and their continued commitment to the program, as seen 

in their mentorship of current trainees and their efforts to spread the 

CURE principles elsewhere.

Elaine Alarid, Ph.D.

R01

Associate Professor 

of Oncology

University of 

California, Berkeley

Manuel Penichet, 

M.D., Ph.D.

R01

Associate Professor of 

Surgery, Microbiology,

Immunology, and 

Molecular Genetics

University of California, 

Los Angeles

Figure 8: Past CURE Grantees—Where They Are Today
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

39

Competitiveness

The Center to Reduce Cancer Health 

Disparities maintains preliminary statistics 

related to past CURE grantees’ current 

funding—data that indicate that CURE 

trainees are highly successful in receiving 

major grant funding. (See Figure 8 describing 

the accomplishments of several former 

CURE grantees since leaving the program.) 

Measuring the competitiveness of CURE 

trainees is a difficult undertaking, however. 

Measures such as the attainment of an 

independent R01 grant are useful but risk 

overemphasizing the merit and highlighting 

the exclusivity of NIH funding. Such 

measures also frame academic cancer science 

as the only route by which CURE graduates 

can meaningfully contribute to reducing 

cancer health disparities. Despite—and in 

an attempt to surmount—these drawbacks, 

CURE is building in better tracking 

capabilities so that it can more accurately 

follow its grantees through their postCURE career stages and allow the program 

to measure more complex outcomes and 

successes. Tracking also will help CURE 

more accurately identify additional gaps in 

career development and assess effectiveness, 

which will allow the program to continue to 

grow responsively.

Alex Adjei, M.D., Ph.D. 

R01

Senior Vice President 

of Clinical Research 

& Chairman of the 

Department of Medicine

Roswell Park 

Cancer Institute

Chanita HughesHalbert, Ph.D.

R01, R24

Associate Professor 

in the Department 

of Psychiatry

Abramson 

Cancer Center of 

the University of 

Pennsylvania
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

40

Publications

An important benchmark for determining 

the success of CURE grantees is measured 

by their publications in peer-reviewed 

journals. To date, trainees have contributed 

more than 1,700 peer-reviewed papers to 

the scientific literature—a number that 

has grown steadily over time. In 2006, for 

instance, there were only 25 papers published 

by CURE trainees, but by 2010, the number 

among pre- and postdoctoral trainees alone 

had increased to more than 175. This major 

leap in the reach and peer-acknowledged 

value of CURE grantees’ research is depicted 

in Figure 9, which offers a yearly analysis of 

F31 and K-series publications. Further, the 

caliber of the journals currently accepting 

manuscripts from CURE-supported 

individuals has substantively increased in 

the last five years. The Appendix highlights 

recently published articles by CURE 

trainees—contributions that range from basic 

to applied science and address key cancer 

research questions related to America’s 

cancer and cancer health disparities burden.

PUBLICATIONS IN PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS BY 

CURE-SUPPORTED PRE-/POSTDOCTORAL TRAINEES AND 

CAREER DEVELOPMENT AWARDEES 2006-2010 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

F31 Recipients

K-Series Recipients

Fiscal Year

Number of Publications

Key

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Figure 9
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

41

Scientific Reviews

CURE grantees’ voluntary service on review 

committees is another powerful indicator 

of their contributions to the scientific 

community. Scientific review groups evaluate 

grant applications from other researchers, 

examining them on their technical merits 

and ability to advance the state of scientific 

knowledge. Serving on review boards and 

advisory committees helps shape the future 

direction of cancer research—a direction 

that CURE believes its grantees will be able 

to influence to include issues tied to cancer 

disparities among underserved populations. 

CURE places a high value on this service 

and has translated that value into the peerreview training experience that is built into 

the Career Development Award programs. 

CURE grantees appear to have taken this 

value to heart. Table 2 lists a selection of the 

review and advisory committees on which 

former CURE grantees serve. Through 

this service, investigations related to cancer 

health disparities may be brought more 

strongly into cancer research priorities.

REVIEW AND ADVISORY BOARDS WITH CURE GRANTEE MEMBERS

NCI Ad Hoc Review Subcommittees

Manpower and Training (Initial Review G)

NCI/NIH IRG and CSR Review Subcommittees*

Subcommittees: F (training), G (education), I (career), J (population and patient-oriented)

NCI Molecular Oncology

Small Business Innovation Research Cancer Imaging

Specialized Programs of Research Excellence

Experimental Therapeutics

NCI Advisory/Review Committees

NCI Board of Scientific Counselors

NCI Board of Scientific Advisors

National Cancer Advisory Board

Co-Committees Outside NIH

Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program

American Society of Clinical Oncology Science Committee

Myeloma Research Foundation

American Association for Cancer Research—Minorities in Cancer Research

Table 2

*IRG: Internal Review Group

CSR: Center for Scientific Review
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

42

Mentorship

Another measure of CURE’s success can 

be found in its former trainees’ promotion 

and support of the CURE program. Indeed, 

many early CURE grantees are serving 

today as mentors to the current cohort of 

CURE trainees. This pool of potential 

CURE mentors—mentors who were 

themselves trained through the CURE 

process—will only grow as more grantees 

join the ranks of competitive, independent 

researchers. They will perpetuate the cycle 

in which each cohort helps encourage the 

following cohort, thereby building a critical 

mass of researchers from underrepresented 

populations. To facilitate this cycle, CURE 

has begun exploring the possibility of 

programs to incentivize training and funding 

support for mentors, who traditionally 

receive little assistance or compensation 

for their efforts. Such programming may 

include interactive online training as well 

as supplemental resources for laboratories 

supporting trainees—easing the difficulty 

of this serious, but also rewarding, 

responsibility. By expanding the ranks 

of mentors and supporting them in their 

efforts, CURE is ensuring further expansion 

throughout its second decade.

DIVISION OF MEDICAL ARTS

Programs such as CURE are essential to provide 

not only funding but fundamental ‘how-to’ 

information and opportunities for connections 

to successful individuals that would not be 

available to potential scientists who for reasons 

of race, background, or education do not have 

access to this.

Dr. Annette Khaled

Associate Professor, University of Central Florida
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

43

Exportability

A final measure of CURE’s impact is 

the degree to which it is being replicated 

elsewhere. One such example can be found at 

Northwestern University’s Feinberg School 

of Medicine in Evanston, Illinois, where 

former CURE trainee, June M. McKoy, 

M.D., has employed the six tenets of the 

CURE philosophy to build the Students 

Engaged in Elder Research (SEER) project. 

SEER currently supports five students 

from underrepresented backgrounds in 

summer research projects, where the trainees 

investigate issues related to cancer among 

the elderly. SEER reflects McKoy’s belief 

in the CURE philosophy and exemplifies 

how CURE’s reach and impact are steadily 

growing across the country.

NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

Diversity in the lab doesn’t happen 

overnight, but having program directors 

behind you, supporting and encouraging 

you, allowing you to just focus on your 

research, is a stepping stone toward 

the future.

Dr. Sanya Springfield

CRCHD Director, 2005-Present
44

Young Trainees

New Research Areas

Integration and Collaboration
45

How will CURE

grow in the future?

NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

46

While CURE has experienced extraordinary growth and contributed to 

the increasing diversity of NCI’s trainee population, its mission is still 

incomplete. Disparities in cancer incidence and outcomes persist, as do 

the gaps in the numbers and success of researchers from underrepresented 

population groups in the United States. Further, CURE’s philosophy is 

that it must constantly review and assess; its principal tenets embody the 

belief that there are always new ways to expand and improve.

Three areas in particular have been highlighted for growth by CURE’s 

program directors in the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities: 

improving CURE’s outreach to high school and undergraduate trainees 

(Young Trainees), accelerating training opportunities in important new 

areas of cancer research (New Research Areas), and better integrating and 

collaborating with other NIH and extramural programs (Integration and 

Collaboration.)

Young Trainees

Reaching the youngest trainees in the 

pipeline has been a challenge not only for 

CURE, but for many other research and 

training programs. While CURE has been 

reaching out to young trainees through 

Diversity Supplements and the PRCHD 

program, this area of the CURE portfolio 

receives much less coverage compared 

with the later stages of the research career 

trajectory (see Figure 1) and has attracted 

only sparse and intermittent participation by 

the youngest trainees over the past decade. 

This situation may be due in part to the fact 

that many established mentors, without extra 

support, can find the mentoring and skillteaching required by these young trainees 

overwhelming—a state of affairs that 

CURE’s increased attention to mentorship 

hopes to address. However, CURE’s current 

mixed success with this age group remains a 

concern. The literature suggests that career 

interests are formed primarily at the high 

school and undergraduate levels and that 

research careers are particularly encouraged 

by early research experiences.5,6
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

Though currently a problem, CURE 

has interpreted this gap as an opportunity—

an opportunity to revise programmatic 

aims and engage younger students more 

effectively. To this end, CRCHD has 

developed the Emerging Technologies 

Continuing Umbrella of Research 

Experiences (ET CURE), which is explicitly 

aimed at the young trainee cohort. 

ET CURE pairs underrepresented high 

school and undergraduate students with 

scientists from local cancer research centers 

and universities—scientists who have a 

particular research focus on using emerging 

and advanced technologies to mitigate 

cancer disparities. These technologies range 

from clinical proteomics to nanotechnology, 

genomics, and biophotonics—all 

cutting-edge areas of cancer research 

to which very few young trainees have 

access, particularly if they come from 

underrepresented backgrounds. See Table 3 

for a list of participating institutions and the 

institutions’ chosen electives.

ET CURE PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS

AND THEIR CHOSEN ELECTIVES

Institution ET Elective

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center Proteomics

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Proteomics

City College of New York with Memorial 

Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Nanotechnology

University of California, San Diego Nanotechnology

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Genomics

University of California, Davis Biophotonics

47

Table 3

Each ET CURE site has a degree of 

independence over its own programming, 

which has led to a great deal of local 

innovation. For instance, the University 

of California, Davis has developed a 

partnership between its medical center, 

its Center for Biophotonics Science and 

Technology, and a local Sacramento charter 

high school with a racially/ethnically 

diverse student body. The charter school 

students participate in a year-long Research 

Academy—engaging in coursework, 

field studies, and laboratory research in 

cancer science related to biophotonics. The 
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

48

intent is to expand the horizons of these 

underrepresented students, encourage 

them to think of biomedical careers as 

a possibility, and give them the skills 

necessary to be competitive applicants to 

undergraduate biomedical programs.

UC Davis’s high school program also 

is linked with its undergraduate ET CURE 

program, with the undergraduates serving 

as judges of the Research Academy’s 

end-of-the-year poster presentation 

session. However, while the high school 

Academy focuses on teaching skills and 

providing science background, UC Davis’s 

undergraduate ET CURE program aims 

to prepare promising college students 

for graduate work in cutting-edge 

nanotechnology cancer research—with, as 

per CURE’s principles, the guidance and 

support of strong mentors. 

ET CURE may exemplify the direction 

of the future for the CURE program. 

With ET CURE, CURE has created an 

increasingly specialized approach that 

specifically targets an educational level 

and engages that group by encouraging its 

involvement in ambitious, innovative, and 

high-profile areas of research. Moreover, the 

devolvement of a degree of programmatic 

control to the institutions themselves has 

the promise to create uniquely tailored 

programs adapted to the needs of the 

disparity communities surrounding those 

institutions. The hope is that programs like 

ET CURE may serve as a new model for 

other research promotion programs aimed at 

underrepresented populations and that it will 

help CURE continue to move promising 

young scientists into the research pipeline.
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

49

New Research Areas

ET CURE’s focus on emerging technologies 

points the way toward another future 

CURE initiative: strengthening training 

and career development opportunities in 

novel and cutting-edge scientific arenas. In 

addition to ET CURE, CURE is expanding 

its Diversity Supplements, its PRCHD 

connections, and its clinical science tracks 

to incorporate similar opportunities to 

specialize in emerging technology topics. 

Supporting trainee involvement in these 

emerging fields is integral to growing a 

productive cancer workforce. Not only do 

they hold great promise for underpinning 

the next wave of advances in cancer science, 

they are currently being targeted for 

increasing grant funding. For example, in 

the U.S., almost $2 billion was devoted to 

nanotechnology research and development 

in 2010 alone.7

 Moreover, these are fields 

from which many underrepresented trainees 

have felt excluded over the past decades 

and consigned, instead, to less prestigious 

areas, where they could find employment 

and support. CURE targeted biological 

sciences for this very reason; while doctorate 

achievement levels by racial/ethnic and 

underserved groups have not been fully 

representative of these populations in the 

social and behavioral sciences, they are 

routinely double those of same groups in 

the biological sciences.3

Changing this situation will require 

attracting increased numbers of ethnically 

and racially diverse trainees from 

underrepresented populations into these 

emerging fields. As Dr. McKoy noted, 

science—and particularly the high-profile 

scientific specialties—will never seem 

approachable to underrepresented students 

unless the face of science looks familiar. 

Encouraging CURE’s trainees to investigate 

these emerging research topics can only 

spark a reinforcing cycle: if those trainees 

go on to become the spokeswomen and 

spokesmen of such high-profile science, 

their presence will inspire many more 

students from similarly underrepresented 

backgrounds to pursue similar paths.
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

50

Integration and Collaboration

Linking across existing NCI-supported 

research programs will be essential to 

CURE’s future growth. One of the 

indictments of NIH-sponsored racially/

ethnically targeted training programs 

in the past has been their inconsistent 

coordination and lack of tracking across 

Institutes, Divisions, Offices, and Centers; 

improved linkages will help to counteract 

this tendency. Moreover, integrating CURE 

with these different institutional offerings 

will also help build a more secure, enmeshed 

pipeline for underrepresented trainees 

and export CURE’s opportunities and 

philosophy to a broader audience. To this 

end, future CURE funding will be extended 

and made more accessible to several of 

NCI’s new and existing programs. Outside 

of NIH, CURE will be strengthening its 

existing partnerships with the National 

Science Foundation, the American 

Association for Cancer Research, and the 

Indian Health Service—all key players in 

the fight to reduce cancer disparities, as well 

as sources of new, promising trainees who 

could benefit from CURE’s support.

Through its continued growth, CURE 

hopes to model the same behaviors and 

values it is trying to inculcate in its trainees: 

the benefits of collaboration and the need 

for support in order to build a critical mass 

of researchers and assemble a similarly 

critical body of disparity-oriented research. 

Building the type of comprehensive, 

encompassing pipeline CURE envisions is 

not a solitary endeavor. It is only through 

team effort, support, and focused attention 

to the need for change that disparities can be 

ameliorated in both the cancer experience 

of America’s underserved populations and 

the demographic makeup of U.S. cancer 

researchers. This is the future CURE 

envisions, and with the addition of each new 

CURE trainee, that future draws nearer.
51

CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

The uniqueness of the CURE program is unparalleled 

by anything I was exposed to when I worked 

in academia. It is truly a program where the 

investigator, mentor, and program director work in 

collaboration, with the purpose of advancing cancer 

research and career development.

Dr. Nelson Aguila

CURE Program Director
52

Basic Science

Population Science

Translational Science
Appendix: CURE Trainee 

Contributions to the Science

53
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

54

Basic Science

Baker, E. (R01)

The biomechanical integrin.

Journal of Biomechanics. 2010 Jan 5;43(1):38.

This article reviews the current knowledge base of 

integrin mechanobiology to address gaps in cancer and 

other disease research, reporting that future efforts 

of integrin mechanobiology must focus on examining 

cells in 3D environments and integrating current 

understanding into computational models that predict 

the behavior of integrins in nonequilibrium interactions.

Carr, J. (F31)

FoxM1, a critical regulator of oxidative stress 

during oncogenesis.

The EMBO Journal. 2009 Oct 7;28(19):2908-18.

This study was undertaken to determine the 

mechanisms by which transcription factor FoxM1 

participates in the function of tumor development 

and progression. Results identified FoxM1 as a key 

regulator of reactive oxygen species in dividing cells 

and revealed how tumor cells use FoxM1 to control 

oxidative stress to escape premature senescence 

and apoptosis.

Daniels, T. (K01)

Disruption of HOX activity leads to cell death that 

can be enhanced by the interference of iron uptake 

in malignant B cells. 

Leukemia. 2010 Sept;24(9):1555-65. 

Researchers evaluated the expression of all 39 

HOX genes in a panel of six malignant B-cell 

lines, including multiple myeloma cells. The study 

found different levels of expression of HOX family 

members, suggesting that they also have a role in 

malignant B-cell survival and that disrupting HOX 

function using the peptide HXR9 induces significant 

cytotoxicity in the entire panel of cell lines—an effect 

that can be enhanced by combining HXR9 with 

ch128.1Av, an antibody-avidin fusion protein specific 

for the human transferrin receptor 1 (CD71). Results 

suggest that HOX proteins may be effective in the 

treatment of incurable B-cell malignancies such as 

multiple myeloma.

Gregory, M. (K01)

Wnt/Ca2+/NFAT signaling maintains survival of 

Ph+ leukemia cells upon inhibition of Bcr-Abl.

Cancer Cell. 2010 Jul 13;18(1):74-87.

This study was to identify genes whose inhibition 

sensitizes Bcr-Abl(+) leukemias to kill the Bcr-Abl 

inhibitors. Screening identified numerous components 

of a Wnt/Ca(2+)/NFAT signaling pathway. Targeting this 

pathway in combination with Bcr-Abl inhibition could 

improve treatment of Bcr-Abl(+) leukemias.

Guerrero, M. (F31)

BCAR3 regulates Src/p130 Cas association, 

Src kinase activity, and breast cancer 

adhesion signaling.

Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2010 Jan 

22;285(4):2309-17.

This study examined the role of p130 (Cas) protein in 

activation of c-Src in breast cancer. The study showed, 

using gain- and loss-of-function approaches, that 

BCAR3 regulates c-Src activity in the endogenous 

setting of breast cancer cells and that BCAR3 

regulates the interaction between Cas and c-Src, 

both qualitatively and quantitatively, and presented 

evidence that the coordinated activity of these proteins 

contributes to breast cancer cell adhesion signaling 

and spreading. 

Gutierrez, A. (K08)

Inactivation of LEF1 in T-cell acute 

lymphoblastic leukemia.

Blood. 2010 Apr 8;115(14):2845-51.

The study examined the molecular pathogenesis 

of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) 

through high-resolution array comparative genomic 

hybridization. Findings suggest that LEF1 inactivation 

is an important step in the molecular pathogenesis of 

T-ALL in a subset of young children.

Marrero, B. (F31)

Generation of a tumor spheroid in a microgravity 

environment as a 3D model of melanoma.

In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology—

Animal. 2009 Oct;45(9):523-34. 

This article discusses efforts to improve 2D monolayer 

cell culture models to understand various cellular 

reactions that occur in vivo, as well as techniques used 
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

55

to develop the first known large, free-floating 3D tissue 

model used to establish tumor spheroids. 

Ramos, A. (F31)

Amplification of chromosomal segment 4q12 in 

non-small cell lung cancer.

Cancer Biology and Therapy. 2009 Nov;8(21):2042-50.

This study investigated whether PDGFRA and KIT 

inhibitors are potential oncogenes in non-small cell lung 

cancer. Further study is needed to define the specific 

characteristics of those tumors that could respond to 

PDGFRA/KIT inhibitors.

Saavedra, H. (K01)

Cdk2 and Cdk4 regulate the centrosome cycle and 

are critical mediators of centrosome amplification 

in p53-null cells.

Molecular Cell Biology. 2010 Feb;30(3):694-710.

Researchers examined the role of Cdk4 in a normal or 

deregulated centrosome cycle. The study concluded 

that the Cdk2/Cdk4/NPM pathway is a major guardian 

of centrosome dysfunction and genomic integrity. 

Scarlett, U. (F31)

In situ stimulation of CD40 and Toll-like 

receptor 3 transform ovarian cancer-infiltrating 

dendritic cells from immunosuppressive 

to immunostimulatory cells.

Cancer Research. 2009 Sep 15;69(18):7329-37.

The study examined whether targeting of tumorinduced immunosuppression on an individualized 

basis is required for boosting therapeutically relevant 

immunity against lethal epithelial tumors. Results 

showed the potential of transforming tumor-infiltrating 

dendritic cells from an immunosuppressive to an 

immunostimulatory cell type.

Scarlett, U. (F31)

Polyethylenimine-based siRNA nanocomplexes 

reprogram tumor-associated dendritic cells via 

TLRS to elicit therapeutic antitumor immunity.

Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2009 Aug;119 

(8):2231-44.

Researchers examined whether linear 

polyethylenimine-based (PEI-based) nanoparticles 

encapsulating siRNA can reverse tumor-induced 

immune suppression in epithelial tumors. The 

study found that the intrinsic TLR5 and TLR7 

stimulation of siRNA-PEI nanoparticles synergizes 

with the gene-specific silencing activity of siRNA to 

transform tumor-infiltrating regulatory dendritic cells 

(DCs) into DCs capable of promoting therapeutic 

antitumor immunity.

Scarlett, U. (F31)

CCL5-mediated endogenous antitumor immunity 

elicited by adoptively transferred lymphocytes and 

dendritic cell depletion.

Cancer Research. 2009 Aug 1;69(15):6331-8. 

Researchers examined the effect of adoptive transfer 

of antitumor T cells on endogenous antitumor immune 

mechanisms. The study revealed a CCL5-dependent 

mechanism of awakening endogenous antitumor 

immunity triggered by ex vivo expanded T cells, which 

was augmented by tumor-specific targeting of the 

cancer microenvironment.

Torroella-Kouri, M. (K01)

Role of the proteasome in the downregulation 

of transcription factors NFkappaB and c/EBP in 

macrophages from tumor hosts.

Oncology Reports. 2010 Mar;23(3):875-81.

This study examined the possible role of proteolytic 

machinery in the decrease of nuclear factor KappaB 

(NFkappaB) and CCAAT enhancer-binding proteins (C/

EBP) in macrophages from tumor hosts. The study 

found that proteasome degradation may contribute 

to NFkappaB and C/EBP impairment in macrophages 

from tumor-bearers. 

Torroella-Kouri, M. (K01)

Identification of a subpopulation of macrophages 

in mammary tumor-bearing mice that are neither 

M1 nor M2 and are less differentiated.

Cancer Research. 2009 Jun 1;69(11):4800-9.

This article describes a study to examine the immune 

status of macrophages from peripheral compartments 

in tumor hosts. The study found, for the first time, that 

macrophage depletion is associated with increased 

macrophage progenitors in bone marrow.
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

56

Webb, T. (K01)

Ovarian cancer-associated ascites demonstrates 

altered immune environment: implications for 

antitumor immunity.

Anticancer Research. 2009 Aug;29(8):2875-84.

Researchers sought to identify immunosuppressive 

elements present in ovarian cancer-associated 

ascites. The study determined that ovarian cancerassociated ascites may provide an immunosuppressive 

environment.

Population Science

Burris, J. (F31)

Use of formal and informal mental health 

resources by cancer survivors: differences 

between rural and nonrural survivors and a 

preliminary test of the theory of planned behavior.

Psycho-oncology. 2010 Nov;19(11):1148-55.

This study examined use of mental health resources 

among rural and nonrural cancer survivors and sought 

to identify factors associated with mental health 

resource use. The study revealed that additional 

research is needed to expand the search for factors, 

particularly modifiable factors, that might account for 

disparities in mental health outcomes between rural 

and nonrural survivors.

Burris, J. (F31)

Providers practice prevention: promoting dental 

hygienists’ use of evidence-based treatment of 

tobacco use and dependence.

Journal of Dental Education. 2009 Sep;73(9):1069-82.

Researchers sought to determine the impact of a 

provider education program in Kentucky to promote 

implementation of evidence-based tobacco cessation 

treatment among registered dental hygienists. 

Analyses exploring the immediate effect found 

the program to have had a positive impact across 

knowledge, attitudes, and intended clinical practices 

regarding tobacco use and treatment.

Doubeni, C. (K01)

Primary care, economic barriers to health care, and 

use of colorectal cancer screening tests among 

Medicare enrollees over time.

Annals of Family Medicine. 2010 Jul-Aug;8(4):299-307.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact 

of primary care and economic barriers to health care 

on colorectal cancer (CRC) testing relative to the 

2001 Medicare expansion of screening coverage. 

The study revealed that despite expanding coverage 

for screening, complex CRC screening disparities 

persisted based on differences in the usual place and 

cost of health care, type of health insurance coverage, 

and level of education.

Doubeni, C. (K01)

Early course of nicotine dependence in 

adolescent smokers.

Pediatrics. 2010 Jun;125(6):1127-33.

Conducted to characterize the early course of nicotine 

dependence, this study demonstrated that nondaily 

tobacco use triggers the emergence of nicotine 

dependence. Early dependence symptoms promote 

escalation in smoking frequency and, reciprocally, 

more-frequent smoking accelerates the appearance of 

additional symptoms of dependence. As this positive 

feedback progresses, the symptoms of nicotine 

dependence present in a typical sequence, with some 

individual variation.

Guerra, C. (K22)

Diffusion of breast cancer risk assessment in 

primary care.

Journal of the American Board of Family 

Medicine. 2009 May-Jun;22(3):272-9.

This study was carried out to determine the prevalence 

and determinants of the adoption of breast cancer 

risk assessment by primary care physicians. Results 

indicate that diffusion of breast cancer risk assessment 

is occurring in primary care practices, with a greater 

adoption of BRCA1/2 testing than of the use of risk 

assessment software. Adoption seems to be related 

to the salience of breast cancer personally (for the 

physician) and within the practice, as well as the size 

of the practice, rather than attitudes about the risk 

assessment methods.

Hatcher, J. (K01)

Mammography promotion in the emergency 

department: a pilot study.

Public Health Nursing. 2010 Nov-Dec; 27(6):520-7.

In this study to assess the need and desire for, 
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

57

and applicability of, a mammography promotion 

project in the emergency department (ED), threequarters of women surveyed said they would be 

interested in mammography promotion while waiting 

for care in the ED. Study results provide promise 

that mammography promotion activities may 

appropriately take place in the ED.

Hudson, S. (K01)

Breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer screening 

for cancer survivors and noncancer patients in 

community practices.

Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2009 Nov;24(2 

Suppl):S487-9.

Little is known regarding the patterns of care for 

cancer survivors in community primary care practices. 

In this study, cancer survivors were more likely to 

self-report receipt of cancer screening than were 

noncancer patients; however, medical record reports 

were fewer than self-reports. Identification of factors 

that affect cancer screening among cancer survivors 

has implications for intervention design.

Hudson, S. (K01)

Principles of the patient-centered medical home 

and preventive services delivery.

Annals of Family Medicine. 2010 Mar-Apr;8(2):108-16.

This research was undertaken to determine whether 

the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) principles 

(personal physician; physician-directed team; wholeperson orientation; coordination of care, quality and 

safety; and enhanced access) are associated with 

receipt of preventive services. The study determined 

that relationship-centered aspects of PCMH are more 

highly correlated with preventive services delivery in 

community primary care practices than are information 

technology capabilities.

Lathan, C. (K01)

Racial differences in the perception of lung 

cancer: the 2005 Health Information National 

Trends Survey.

Cancer. 2010 Apr 15;116(8):1981-6.

Undertaken to examine perceptions of lung cancer in 

the general population and whether these perceptions 

differ by race, this study revealed that African 

Americans were more likely than whites to: agree that 

it is hard to follow recommendations about preventing 

lung cancer; avoid an evaluation for lung cancer for fear 

that they have the disease; and believe that patients 

with lung cancer would have pain or other symptoms 

before diagnosis—beliefs that could interfere with 

prevention and treatment.

Mahabee-Gittens, E. (K22)

Agreement between parents and youth on 

measures of anti-smoking socialization.

Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance 

Abuse. 2010 Apr 1;19(2):158-170.

This study explored the level of agreement between 

parents and youth on measures of anti-smoking 

socialization and assess whether agreement is 

associated with parental smoking status and/or 

parental race/ethnicity. The study demonstrated that 

agreement between parents and youth on measures of 

anti-smoking socialization was associated with parental 

smoking status but not race/ethnicity. 

McKoy, J. (K01)

Costs and cost effectiveness of a health care 

provider-directed intervention to promote 

colorectal cancer screening.

Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2009 Nov 10;27(32):5370-5. 

Undertaken to assess the cost effectiveness of 

randomized interventions to improve colorectal cancer 

screening, this study found that a comprehensive, 

multicomponent, academic detailing intervention 

conducted in small practices in metropolitan New York 

was clinically effective in improving colorectal cancer 

screening rates but was not cost-effective.

Mosavel, M. (K01)

Daughter-initiated health advice to mothers: 

perceptions of African-American and 

Latina daughters.

Health Education Research. 2009 Oct;24(5):799-810.

This study addressed the gap in literature pertaining 

to the ability of adolescents to influence their parents’ 

health behaviors by exploring the feasibility of 

daughters providing health advice to their mothers. 

Study data suggest that some daughters have the 

potential to be valuable health education conveyers in 

their families.
THE CURE PARADIGM: ENHANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

58

Mosavel, M. (K01)

Cervical cancer attitudes and beliefs—a Cape 

Town community responds on World Cancer Day.

Journal of Cancer Education. 2009;24(2):114-9.

Undertaken to examine attitudes and beliefs that affect 

women’s cervical cancer screening behavior, this study 

concluded that opportunistic cancer screening events 

are an effective way for women to obtain Pap smears 

and cancer education.

Nguyen, L. (R01)

Healthy colon, healthy life (colon san, vida sana): 

colorectal cancer screening among Latinos in 

Santa Clara, California.

Journal of Cancer Education. 2010 Mar;25(1):36-42.

Conducted to identify factors associated with colorectal 

cancer screening among Latinos, this study determined 

that younger patients, women, and patients of female 

physicians receive the most screening.

Translational Science

Buck, M. (K22)

Decreased Jun-D and myogenin expression in 

muscle wasting of human cachexia.

American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology, and 

Metabolism. 2009 Aug;297(2):E392-401.

This study was conducted to determine whether 

AIDS, cancer, and chronic inflammatory diseases 

cause muscle wasting. The study revealed that some 

molecular pathways are modulated in association 

with muscle wasting in patients with cancer or AIDS; 

however, whether or not they cause muscle wasting 

remains to be determined.

Gonzalez-Angulo, A. (K23)

Incidence and outcome of BRCA mutations in 

unselected patients with triple receptor-negative 

breast cancer.

Clinical Cancer Research. 2011 Mar 1;17(5):1082-9.

Study researchers sought to investigate the incidence 

of germline and somatic BRCA1/2 mutations in 

unselected patients with triple-negative breast cancer 

(TNBC) and determine the prognostic significance of 

carrying a mutation. In an unselected cohort, the study 

found a 19.5 percent incidence of BRCA mutations, 

indicating genetic testing should be discussed with 

TNBC patients. Patients with TNBC with BRCA 

mutations had a significantly lower risk of relapse.

Gresham, V. (F31)

Genomics: applications in mechanism elucidation.

Advanced Drug Delivery Review. 2009 May 20;61(5): 

369-74.

This study was undertaken to identify molecular 

interactions associated with therapeutic and toxic drug 

effects early in drug development. Results indicate that 

genomic strategies may be used as a complementary 

tool in drug discovery and development.

Holt, D. (R01)

CXCR3 expression is associated with poor survival 

in breast cancer and promotes metastasis in a 

murine model.

Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. 2009 Mar;8(3):490-8.

This research was conducted to examine the 

relationship of chemokine receptor CXCR3 expression 

to clinical outcome in 75 women diagnosed with earlystage breast cancer. Results support the continued 

examination of CXCR3 as a potential therapeutic target 

in patients with breast cancer.

Hopper-Borge, E. (K01)

Chemotherapy and signaling: how can targeted 

therapies supercharge cytotoxic agents?

Cancer Biology and Therapy. 2010 Nov 23;10(9):839-53. 

This article discusses recent advances in 

chemotherapy, including integrative systematic biology 

and RNAi approaches to counteract chemotherapy 

resistance and buttress the selectivity, efficacy, and 

personalization of anticancer drug therapy.

Lopez, M. (R01)

A (99m)Tc-labeled triphenylphosphonium 

derivative for the early detection of breast tumors.

Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals. 

2009 Oct;24(5):579-87.

Researchers sought to synthesize and characterize 

(99m)Tc-labeled alkyl triphenylphosphonium for the 

early detection of breast tumors. The study found 

that the agent significantly reduced cardiac uptake 

compared with (99m)Tc-MBIB.
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

59

Nwogu, C. (K23)

Is thoracoscopic pneumonectomy safe?

Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 2009 Oct;88(4):1086-92.

Undertaken to determine the safety of thoracoscopic 

pneumonectomy, this study found that thoracoscopic 

pneumonectomy can be done safely, which is 

especially important as more debilitated patients 

present for surgical therapy. 

Nwogu, C. (K23)

Chest tube-delivered bupivacaine improves pain 

and decreases opioid use after thoracoscopy.

Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 2009 Apr;87(4):1040-

6;discussion 1046-7.

This study aimed to compare a simplified method of 

intrapleural bupivacaine administration with traditional 

analgesic therapy to decrease postoperative pain and 

opioid usage in patients after thoracoscopy. Results 

showed that intermittent or continuous intrapleural 

bupivacaine infused through the chest tube reliably 

reduces postoperative pain and 24-hour opioid usage 

in thoracoscopy patients.

McKoy, J. (K01)

Cancer therapy associated bone loss: 

implications for hip fractures in mid-life 

women with breast cancer.

Clinical Cancer Research. 2011 Feb 1;17(3):560-8. 

Researchers used case studies and systematic review 

to determine whether aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are 

associated with hip fractures. The study revealed that 

cancer treatment-induced bone loss results in hip 

fractures among mid-life women with breast cancer. 

Hip fractures occur at younger ages and higher bone 

density testing than expected for patients in this age 

group without breast cancer. Hip fractures result in 

considerable functional decline. Greater awareness of 

this adverse drug effect is needed.

Paiva, M. (K22)

Outcomes of laser therapy for recurrent head 

and neck cancer.

Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery. 

2010 Mar;142(3):344-50.

This article reviews the outcomes of a Phase II 

study using laser-induced thermal therapy (LITT) as 

a palliative treatment for 106 patients with recurrent 

head and neck tumors. The study concluded that the 

highest response rate was seen in oral cavity tumors, 

suggesting that tumor location at this site may be a 

predictor of favorable outcome with LITT.

Pollard, C. (F31)

Molecular genesis of non-muscle-invasive 

urothelial carcinoma.

Expert Reviews in Molecular Medicine. 2010 Mar 

25;12:e10.

This study examined the etiology of non-muscleinvasive urothelial carcinoma and revealed that 

understanding the signaling events in non-muscleinvasive urothelial carcinoma may offer novel 

approaches to managing recurrence and progression of 

the disease.

Pollard, C. (F31)

Genoproteomic mining of orothelial cancer 

suggests γ-glutamyl hydrolase and diazepambinding inhibitor as putative urinary markers of 

outcome after chemotherapy.

American Journal of Pathology. 2009 Nov;175(5): 

1824-30.

The authors evaluated an approach that combines 

genomic, proteomic, and therapeutic outcome data 

sets to identify novel putative urinary biomarkers 

of clinical outcome after receiving chemotherapy. 

Predictive results indicate that gamma-glutamyl 

hydrolase and diazepam-binding inhibitor can be 

developed as urinary markers of clinical outcomes for 

patients treated with chemotherapy. 

Resto, V. (K08)

Case-matching analysis of head and neck 

squamous cell carcinoma in racial and ethnic 

minorities in the United States—possible role for 

human papillomavirus in survival disparities.

Head and Neck. 2011 Jan;33(1):45-53.

This study sought to determine whether differences 

in oropharyngeal tumor human papillomavirus 

(HPV) status may be a cause of disparities in head 

and neck cancer outcomes for black patients in the 

United States. The study demonstrated a diseasespecific survival disparity for Hispanic patients, which 

was eliminated by case matching. The disparity for 

black patients persisted in matched cohorts. The 

oropharyngeal subsite was found to be the dominant 

contributor to this disparity.
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6060

Simbiri, K. (R01)

Multiple oncogenic viruses identified in ocular 

surface squamous neoplasia in HIV-1 patients.

Infectious Agents and Cancer. 2010 Mar 26;5:6.

Undertaken to determine the underlying cause of 

ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN) in HIVinfected patients from Botswana, this study identified 

the known oncogenic viruses HPV, KSHV, and EBV in 

OSSN tissues. However, further studies are necessary 

to characterize the molecular mechanisms associated 

with viral antigens and their potential role in the 

development of OSSN.

Solorio, L. (R01)

Characterization of formulation parameters 

affecting low molecular weight drug release from 

in situ forming drug delivery systems.

Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A. 

2010 Aug;94(2):476-84.

This study examined the effect of varying the 

formulation components on the low molecular weight 

(Mw) drug release profile. Results demonstrated that 

poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) Mw was the 

most significant factor in modulating low Mw drug 

release from the in situ forming implants.

Stewart, J. (K08)

Sentinel lymph node mapping for gastric 

adenocarcinoma.

American Surgeon. 2009 Aug;75(8):710-4.

This study sought to determine the optimal extent of 

regional lymphadenectomy for gastric adenocarcinoma 

using sentinel lymph node mapping and biopsy to 

augment resection of nodal metastasis. Results 

revealed that although a promising modality, lymphatic 

mapping is not recommended for gastric cancer.
CENTER TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

REFERENCES

1 Institute of Medicine. The unequal burden of cancer: an 

assessment of NIH research and programs for ethnic 

minorities and the medically underserved. Washington 

(DC): National Academy Press; 1999.

2 National Science Foundation, Division of Science 

Resources Statistics. Women, minorities, and persons 

with disabilities in science and engineering: 2011. 

Special Report NSF 11-309. Arlington (VA): NSF; 2011. 

Available from: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/

3 National Research Academy of the National Council. 

Assessment of NIH minority research and training 

programs: phase 3. Washington (DC): National Academy 

Press; 2005.

4 Franco I., Bailey L.O., Bakos A.D., Springfield S.A. 

Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (CURE): 

a model for training underserved scientists in cancer 

research. Journal of Cancer Education. 2010;26(1):92-6.

5 Lopatto D. Undergraduate research experiences support 

science career decisions and active learning. CBE Life 

Sciences Education. 2007;6(4):297-306.

6 Fadigan K., Hammrich P.L. A longitudinal study of the 

educational and career trajectories of female participants 

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7 U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative. NNI budget 

[Internet]. Available from: http://www.nano.gov/

about-nni/what/funding

IMAGE CREDITS

Illustrations found on opening spreads of each chapter

(NIH Division of Medical Arts): 

Inside cover: circos diagram–a genetic visualization tool

Pages 6-7: transcriptional regulation network

Pages 10-11: fullerene structure

Page 19: ribbon structure of histone 

Pages 36-37: gene map visualization tool

Pages 44-45: schematized tRNA

Pages 52-53: ribbon structures of antibodies

NIH Medical Arts
NIH Publication 11-7945