Abstract 2633: Advancing childhood cancer research through young investigator and advocate collaboration
Authors: Weiner Amber K. , Lindberg Gavin , Moll Melanie , Palmer Antonia , Reidy Kevin , Diskin Sharon J. , Mackall Crystal L. , Maris John M. , Sullivan Patrick J. 
Published: July 2021

Background: Cancer advocates and researchers share the same goal of driving science forward to create new therapies to cure more patients. The power of combining researchers and advocates has become of increased importance due to their complementary expertise. Therefore, advocacy is a critical component of grants and has become embedded into the Stand Up 2 Cancer (SU2C) applications. The optimal way to combine these skillsets and experiences to benefit the cancer community is currently unknown.

Methods: The Saint Baldrick's Foundation (SBF)-SU2C pediatric dream team is comprised of a highly collaborative network across nine institutions in the United States and Canada. Since SU2C encourages incorporating advocacy into the team structure, we have assembled a diverse team of advocates and scientists by nominating a young investigator (YI) and advocate from each site. During the yearly in person team meeting, a day is dedicated to fostering the advocacy and scientist interaction including discussions with an AACR guest speaker and ending with a night of inspiration to share our stories. Monthly, the advocates have calls that include a young investigator to present their research in lay terms, moderated by the senior investigator team leaders. In order to further bridge this interaction, we developed a questionnaire and conducted interviews. The questionnaire is focused on understanding each member's experience at the intersection between science/advocacy, comparing to previous experiences, providing advice on incorporating advocacy into science and discussing how we can build on our work.

Results: Questionnaire results show that both advocates and YI's see this structure to be valuable and beneficial by improving their science communication, designing patient-friendly clinical trials and sharing experience across institutions. YI's have the opportunity to communicate their research to a non-scientific audience, learn advocate's experience which motivates them to focus on patient priorities and learn skills for career development. For most YI's, this was their first advocacy experience. Advocates learn more about the research being conducted so they can share with patients to provide hope. They can also use this knowledge to help with fundraising, publicity and lobbying. To maintain momentum between yearly in person meetings and bridge interactions between sites, we will add monthly meetings focused on topics including science communication, legislation/government, regulatory science, central IRB protocols, and fundraising.

Conclusion: Through creating a YI and advocate infrastructure, we have cultivated a supportive environment for meaningful conversation that impacts the entire research team. We see this as a model for team science by combining expertise to drive innovation forward and positively impact pediatric cancer patients, and perhaps those with adult malignancies.

Citation Format: Amber K. Weiner, Gavin Lindberg, Melanie Moll, Antonia Palmer, Kevin Reidy, Sharon J. Diskin, Crystal L. Mackall, John M. Maris, Patrick J. Sullivan. Advancing childhood cancer research through young investigator and advocate collaboration [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 2633.