Abstract A70: Geographic management of cancer health disparities programs (gmap) region 5: Strategies to promote and support the next generation of cancer researchers
Authors: Tham Heidi , Brown Megan , Thompson Beti 
Published: March 2017

Background: The National Cancer Institute's Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD) is invested in supporting and strengthening workforce diversity by increasing the number and quality of competitive grant applications and awards from underrepresented trainees, scholars and early stage investigators via the Continuing Umbrella Research Experience (CURE) program. More specifically, CRCHD is interested in receiving a greater number of competitive mentored career development award applications from under-represented applicants. Chief among these are the K-series awards. In response to this call to action, GMaP Region 5 has developed and implemented a number of strategies aimed at increasing the quantity of high-quality competitive career development award submissions from under-represented early stage investigators within the region.

Methods: To be successful, Region 5 has put into place a number of strategies and resources to identify potential K-series applicants and to provide on-going support and mentorship to encourage competitive submissions of K-series applications by new under-represented applicants. Recognizing that different strategies work for different individuals, the totality of strategies is designed to address a variety of needs, including mentoring, feedback, communication with one's peers, and networking. To facilitate this, Region 5 has developed the following: a mentorship program that pairs applicants with a senior investigator from within the region who will provide feedback on grant proposals, a travel scholarship program that facilitates opportunities for regional and national networking and grant writing workshop participation, a one day career development workshop for potential applicants, a weekly listserv email that includes job/funding/training opportunities and relevant resources for early stage investigators, among other activities.

Results: Based on an evaluation, a key finding is that scholars and early stage investigators located in Region 5 were not only aware of the various strategies, they also found them to be valuable resources that they either utilize or intend to utilize. A number of early stage investigators, for example, have availed themselves of mentoring from senior investigators. Other early stage investigators have received feedback from senior academicians. The last one-day training workshop, as another example, included 14 trainees from diverse venues in the region, which extends from Alaska to Guam. Evaluations from the workshop will be discussed.

Conclusion: Building on our hypothesis that diverse applicants respond differently to specific strategies, GMaP Region 5 is implementing a number of diverse strategies to reach under-represented applicants. The results indicate that different applicants respond to different strategies. By offering diversity in our approach to engage potential K-series award applicants, Region 5 will contribute to the pool of successful under-represented minority early stage investigators who conduct scientifically sound cancer health disparities research.

Citation Format: Heidi Tham, Megan Brown, Beti Thompson. Geographic management of cancer health disparities programs (gmap) region 5: Strategies to promote and support the next generation of cancer researchers. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A70.