Paul Calabresi Program in Clinical/Translational Research at Mayo Clinic

The Mayo Clinic Cancer Center (MCCC) is poised to provide an exceptional career development experience for clinician investigators and other translational cancer researchers who seek to establish a career in patient- oriented research. The MCCC is a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center with 45+ years of continuous funding; it sits at the epicenter of high-quality, practice-changing research. Its funding portfolio has remained highly competitive with respect to the acquisition of R01 and R01-equivalent funding over the past 10 years; includes 3 Specialized Programs of Research Excellence ("SPORE's") in cancer of hepatobiliary system, breast cancer, and lymphomas (the latter is a 2-institution, shared SPORE); and remains an active contributor to the NCI’s National Clinical Trials Networks (NCTN’s), including the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. In this application, the MCCC seeks to renew the "Paul Calabresi Program in Clinical/Translational Research at Mayo Clinic," requesting 5 career development positions at any one time for a dual track, M.D. or Ph.D., career development program. The MCCC has been privileged to hold this award since 2001. To date, this cohort of 40+ scholars remains engaged in translational cancer research; includes many who hold leadership positions in academia and other venues; and, over the years, has cumulatively amassed 3000+ publications during and after their scholar tenure. In this application, scholars must focus on 1 of 5 research tracks that align with translational MCCC Programs: Gastrointestinal Malignancies, Hematology, Neuro-Oncology, Novel Therapeutics, or Women's Cancers. Multidisciplinary mentoring teams will work with each scholar as he/she embarks upon a tailored career development program of didactic instruction, hands-on patient-oriented research, and a path toward career independence. Administrative infrastructure consists of a principal investigator who has been committed to this training program since its inception and an internal advisory committee comprised of accomplished leaders/mentors within the MCCC, and expertise in training a diverse academic work force in cancer research. Marking almost 20 years of this program’s existence, this application now strives to examine ways to integrate innovative methods to further improve on the successful track records of future scholars. In essence, the MCCC seeks to train the next generation of investigators who will conduct cutting edge, hypothesis-driven, practice-changing cancer research.