South Carolina Cancer Health Equity Consortium: HBCU Student Summer Training Program
Abstract
Background: Prostate cancer occurs mainly in older men. As the number of older adults in the US population increases, the number of older men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer will also increase. African American men are up to three times more likely to die from prostate cancer than other men. More research is needed to develop better ways to detect and treat prostate cancer. However, there is a shortage of well-trained scientists. To address this problem, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has joined forces with three historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) -- Claflin University (CU), South Carolina State University (SCSU), and Voorhees College (VC) to provide a research training experience to 12 students from these academic institutions. Together, these schools form the South Carolina Cancer Health Equity Consortium (SC CHEC), and they have worked jointly in this capacity since 2009. The current grant application builds on the success of the previous SC CHEC collaborations, which led to 36 scientific presentations and 2 peer-reviewed publications by the 24 Student Fellows who participated in the Training Program from 2009-2015. Twenty other students were supported by other grants, and eight of them published their research findings. The primary goal of the proposed Training Program is to equip a cadre of young scientists with the tools to conduct research, share it with their scientific peers, and receive advanced research degrees. These scientists will eventually form a national network of diverse prostate cancer research scientists who will tackle the growing problem of prostate cancer in the US. To achieve this goal, the 10-week Training Program was substantially expanded in the current application to allow the four Student Fellows per year to enroll in a 15 credit hour prostate cancer health equity research course; conduct a 10-week hands-on research laboratory intensive focused on a specific prostate cancer research project; shadow physicians and other healthcare professionals to observe the clinical care process; interact with lay patient navigators to promote a deeper understanding of prostate cancer care from the patient/survivor s perspective; and interact with biotechnical researchers. Each Student Fellow will be assigned to an MUSC faculty Research Mentor who is conducting funded prostate cancer research. The Research Mentors will provide summer laboratory research training (about 35 hours per week). Three faculty members at the HBCUs (Faculty Advisors) will help to recruit the students through list serves, ads in campus newspapers, class announcements, and by distributing flyers. The recruitment pool is ample for the recruitment of four Student Fellows per year: CU has 396 science, engineering, and math majors per year, SCSU has 909, and VC has 38. Each Student Fellow will receive mentoring from a Faculty Advisor for at least 1 year post-Training Program. The Student Fellows future academic achievements will be tracked through internet-based search tools, social media communications, personal contact information, and graduate school databases. The Training Program is expected to lead to graduate school applications and enrollment, published scientific papers and presentations, and to cancer research careers among the Student Fellows. The Training Program will therefore impact the Student Fellows as well as their potential contributions to prostate cancer research.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 04, 2016
- Source ID
- W81XWH1510266
Entities
People
- Marvella E Ford
Organizations
- Medical University of South Carolina
- United States Army