Cancer Prevention and Control Program Focus & Outcomes

What you’ll learn

Our program provides selected fellows with:

  • Mentoring with senior faculty members engaged in ongoing, peer reviewed, extramurally funded cancer prevention and control research.
  • Specialized curriculum.
  • Intensive training in proposal development, scientific presentations, scientific critique, bioethics, theory, intervention basics of cancer control, and health disparities.
  • A research-intensive environment.
  • Collaboration with senior researchers across multiple disciplines.

This T32 training is a collaborative endeavor between the primary mentor, mentoring team, and applicant. The application for this program must be completed by both the primary mentor and the fellowship applicant.

Up to three years of support are provided for selected candidates to work with a primary and secondary mentor representing different disciplines and focused on the candidate’s research area.

A key component of training for all fellows is writing and critiquing grant applications and publications. 

Program outcomes

Over the past 10 years, our pre- and postdoctoral fellows have been highly successful.

Number of publications

  • Predoctoral fellows: Mean number of publications during fellowship is 8 with a mean of 4 first-authored publications
  • Postdoctoral fellows: Mean number of publications during fellowship is 8 with a mean of 4 first-authored publications

Post-training career

  • 75% of postdoctoral trainees have accepted academic tenure-track positions.
  • 82% of predoctoral fellows accepted postdoctoral positions at leading cancer centers and academic institutions such as Moffitt Cancer Center, Stanford University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Minnesota.
  • Five fellows submitted F31 applications to NIH, and three were awarded (60%).
  • Several fellows have been awarded peer-reviewed scholarships from the American Cancer Society and the Oncology Nursing Society.
  • Fellows have also been recognized nationally with Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) abstract awards and American Psychological Association (APA) dissertation awards.

Training outcomes include:

  • Comprehensive understanding of cancer control science
  • Proficiency in advanced research and statistical methods
  • Integration of ethical principles in research
  • Understanding of the role of social and community-level factors in cancer outcomes
  • Acquisition of presentation and networking skills
  • Development of scientific writing skills, including grant proposal development and publication
  • Skills to analytically review scientific papers and grants
  • Acquisition of skills for career progression

T32 fellows meet weekly with their primary mentor and biweekly or monthly with their secondary mentors. Individual mentoring is supplemented by a strong curriculum built specifically for training in cancer prevention and control.

The training platform includes coursework, seminars, laboratory and community experiences, national and international meetings, and grant and publication development. A commitment to health outcomes is integrated into all training components.

A commitment to improving outcomes for all Hoosiers in our research approach is an integrated and cross-cutting theme. Current events have underscored underlying demographic, medical, and social predictors of cancer risk and treatment outcomes for Hoosiers and for people in the U.S. as a whole.

To integrate approaches towards quality health outcomes across both pre- and postdoctoral training, we will:

  • Provide a dedicated course on demographic, medical, and social factors involved in cancer.
  • Involve all fellows in an individualized community outreach experience targeting medically underserved populations.
  • Discuss various approaches towards biological diversity in reviews of all proposals.
  • Engage IU faculty with expertise to interact with and mentor fellows.
  • Invite a nationally acclaimed scholar with lived experience in these communities to present research and meet with individual fellows each year.

Our program prioritizes the development of skills necessary to achieve an independent, interdisciplinary, and externally funded program of research in cancer prevention and control. To this end, our program strongly supports skill development in manuscript and grant writing.

Fellows are expected to complete the program with:

  • An externally submitted grant proposal and
  • A significant number of peer-reviewed publications relative to status as a pre- or postdoctoral fellow.

Questions?

To learn more about the Cancer Prevention and Control program, please send an email, along with your CV, to Nikki Benbow at nholdcro@iu.edu.

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