In a personalized medicine environment, it is necessary to have access to a range of biospecimens to establish optimal plans for disease diagnosis and treatment for individual patients. Cancer research is especially dependent on biospecimens for determining ideal personalized treatment for patients. Unfortunately, the vast majority of biospecimens are collected from non-Hispanic white (NHW) individuals; thus, minority representation is lacking. This has negative implications for comprehensive cancer treatment. GMaP Region 6 implemented a series of biospecimen education seminars adapted from the Biospecimen and Biobanking module of an existing Cancer Education and Training Program. Regional GMaP partners participated in a train-the-trainer webinar to familiarize themselves with the training materials. Participants trained by the trainers completed pre- and post-tests to document changes in awareness, knowledge, and intention. Nine biospecimen education seminars were offered in 2013; 255 healthcare professionals and representatives from community organizations attended. Participants demonstrated a significant increase in knowledge, intention to donate samples, and intention to talk to patients about biospecimen sample donation. Representatives from community organizations had more improvement on knowledge scores than health care providers. Participation in a well-designed biospecimen education program may ameliorate some of the distrust of biomedical research experienced by racial/ethnic minorities and, in turn, increase needed minority representation in biospecimen collection.
Background: The Geographic Management of Cancer Health Disparities Program (GMaP) Region 6 is oriented to provide assistance to under-represented minority scholars and early stage investigators (ESIs) throughout Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Hawaii, Guam, and American Samoa. Much of the assistance needed has been defined by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Internal Coordinating Committee of GMaP Region 6. In an effort to gain a better understanding of how we can support our constituents, the Internal Coordinating Committee of GMaP Region 6 reached out to scholars and ESIs to learn about their previous experience with the services offered and what additional services they desired from the region. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the needs and types of assistance desired by scholars and ESIs within GMaP Region 6. Methods: A SurveyMonkey survey was developed that included both quantitative and qualitative responses to questions about the services offered by GMaP Region 6. Additional questions asked participants if they had taken advantage of the services provided. In addition, qualitative questions were asked about additional assistance/services desired. The survey was sent to a listserv comprised of 156 NCI-identified scholars and ESIs in Region 6. Results: Responses were received from 42 scholars and ESIs. Of respondents, 67.6% were female, 89.2% were of a race/ethnicity other than non-Hispanic White, 61.9% had PhDs, and 43.9% had received funding (e.g., diversity supplement, F31, T32, R25) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Participants desired more diverse training opportunities, more prospects for receiving feedback on grants, biosketches, and other portions of NIH grants, more networking opportunities, and more training in specific topics related to health disparities research (e.g., CBPR, epidemiology, survey methods). The Internal Coordinating Committee of GMaP Region 6 met to design a plan to accommodate the requests of the scholars and ESIs, which include a mentorship program, training workshops, and a networking program for pre-graduate scholars. Those plans will be implemented in the next three years in the region. Discussion: As advocates of engaging stakeholders as a method for fostering research among the underserved, the GMaP Region 6 Internal Coordinating Committee went directly to scholars and ESIs to better understand how they desired to receive assistance from the region. Although there were some similarities with the NCI mission, there were also difference, and GMaP Region 6 is dedicated to offering services to meet those additional expressed needs of scholars and ESIs in the Region. Citation Format: Beti Thompson, Heidi Tham. Enhancing career development opportunities for scholars and early-stage investigators: Plans based on responses from the participants. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eighth AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 13-16, 2015; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2016;25(3 Suppl):Abstract nr A49.
Background: The National Cancer Institute's Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD) is invested in supporting and strengthening workforce diversity by increasing the number and quality of competitive grant applications and awards from underrepresented trainees, scholars and early stage investigators via the Continuing Umbrella Research Experience (CURE) program. More specifically, CRCHD is interested in receiving a greater number of competitive mentored career development award applications from under-represented applicants. Chief among these are the K-series awards. In response to this call to action, GMaP Region 5 has developed and implemented a number of strategies aimed at increasing the quantity of high-quality competitive career development award submissions from under-represented early stage investigators within the region. Methods: To be successful, Region 5 has put into place a number of strategies and resources to identify potential K-series applicants and to provide on-going support and mentorship to encourage competitive submissions of K-series applications by new under-represented applicants. Recognizing that different strategies work for different individuals, the totality of strategies is designed to address a variety of needs, including mentoring, feedback, communication with one's peers, and networking. To facilitate this, Region 5 has developed the following: a mentorship program that pairs applicants with a senior investigator from within the region who will provide feedback on grant proposals, a travel scholarship program that facilitates opportunities for regional and national networking and grant writing workshop participation, a one day career development workshop for potential applicants, a weekly listserv email that includes job/funding/training opportunities and relevant resources for early stage investigators, among other activities. Results: Based on an evaluation, a key finding is that scholars and early stage investigators located in Region 5 were not only aware of the various strategies, they also found them to be valuable resources that they either utilize or intend to utilize. A number of early stage investigators, for example, have availed themselves of mentoring from senior investigators. Other early stage investigators have received feedback from senior academicians. The last one-day training workshop, as another example, included 14 trainees from diverse venues in the region, which extends from Alaska to Guam. Evaluations from the workshop will be discussed. Conclusion: Building on our hypothesis that diverse applicants respond differently to specific strategies, GMaP Region 5 is implementing a number of diverse strategies to reach under-represented applicants. The results indicate that different applicants respond to different strategies. By offering diversity in our approach to engage potential K-series award applicants, Region 5 will contribute to the pool of successful under-represented minority early stage investigators who conduct scientifically sound cancer health disparities research. Citation Format: Heidi Tham, Megan Brown, Beti Thompson. Geographic management of cancer health disparities programs (gmap) region 5: Strategies to promote and support the next generation of cancer researchers. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A70.
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