by Hannah Buckelew
Elizabeth E. Brown, M.P.H., Ph.D., Endowed Professor of Cancer Pathobiology, Associate Director for Population Science, O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, Molecular and Cellular Pathology, and Lalita Shevde-Samant, Ph.D., Associate Director for Education and Training, O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, Professor, Molecular and Cellular Pathology, are co-leading a new research education program entitled UAB Enhancing Research in Cancer-related Health Professions (ENRICH) with support from the National Cancer Institute.
The R25 grant, anchored in the UAB Department of Pathology, will fund 30 master-level graduate students for an intensive 10-week summer program to engage in cancer research at UAB.
The goal of UAB ENRICH is to immerse students in the scientific process, foundational discovery and multidisciplinary translational frameworks for careers in cancer research. The program will partner with the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UAB Physician Scientist Development Office and UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science’s Training Academy to establish an innovative, 10-week in-person summer research experience for 30 master-level graduate students from a diverse spectrum of disciplines, including public health, basic sciences, health professions, nursing and pharmacy, from UAB and Samford University.
Dr. Elizabeth Brown“Our comprehensive and focused approach is designed to stimulate curiosity of the scientific process among trainees to empower the next generation of cancer researchers,” says Brown.
At its core, ENRICH will offer a mentored research experience grounded in cancer-focused basic, clinical and population sciences, unified by its translational science theme. Program participants will learn complementary and transferrable skills such as communication, personal and professional development, rigor and reproducibility and research ethics.
“We want to establish a community of creative scientific thinkers who will be well-positioned to pursue additional training in
Dr. Lalita Samant their selected research-intensive pursuits,” says Samant. “This exposure to a diverse spectrum of cancer research disciplines can be translated to careers in academia, industry, government, non-profit organizations or other health systems.”
ENRICH will incorporate novel strategies in education and training, both in methods and content, to optimally prepare trainees for success and meet the demands of an evolving biomedical workforce. Applications for this program will open on January 15 and remain open until all ENRICH trainee positions are filled. Eve M. Phillips, MPH, will serve as the Program Manager for ENRICH. She has previous experience with summer programs through UAB Medical Student Summer Research Programs. Click here to learn more about program requirements.