UAB Enhancing Research in Cancer-related Health Professions (ENRICH), an R25 grant from the National Cancer Institute, anchored in the UAB Department of Pathology, successfully completed its first intensive 10-week summer program to engage in cancer research at UAB.
ENRICH immerses students in the scientific process, foundational discovery and multidisciplinary translational frameworks for careers in cancer research. The program partners 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 research experience for master-level graduate students from a diverse spectrum of disciplines
Its first cycle hosted 24 participants from UAB's Heersink School of Medicine, School of Public Health, School of Health Professions and School of Dentistry. Each participant presented
scientific posters and five delivered oral presenations at the half-day symposium held in the Wallace Tumor Institute on July 25. Mead Oliver and Dorris DaGama were the symposium's two poster contest winners and Michael Knight and Rikita Samant were the oral presentation winners.
The program is led by 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, Lalita Shevde-Samant, Ph.D., Associate Director for Education and Training, O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, Professor, Molecular and Cellular Pathology, and Eve M. Phillips, M.P.H., Program Manager.
"We were very impressed by the work completed by each of our trainees this summer," Phillips says.
The Heersink School of Medicine trainees will present their research at the Medical Student Research Day in September, and each of the participating trainees are invited to attend and present their posters again at the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center Research Retreat in October.
Learn more about the program and its requirements here.