Building a Long Distance Training Program to Enhance Clinical Cancer Research Capacity in Puerto Rico

Abstract

Barriers persist in the development and delivery of effective cancer therapies to under-represented minority populations. In Puerto Rico, cancer is the second leading cause of death, yet cancer research awareness and training opportunities remain somewhat limited on the island. These limitations hinder progress toward decreasing the cancer health disparities that exist within the Puerto Rican population. The predominantly Hispanic population of Puerto Rico is the focus of a partnership between the Ponce Health Sciences University-Medical School and Ponce Research Institute (PHSU) in Ponce, Puerto Rico and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. The Partnership goals are to reduce these barriers through an integrated, multipronged approach of training and education alongside outreach and research components. This report describes the approaches, successes and challenges of enhancing clinical cancer research capacity on the island and the unique challenges of a partnership between two institutes physically separated by long distances. Once fully developed this model may be exportable to other Latin American countries where the need is even greater.

“UHAND”—A National Cancer Institute Funded Partnership to Advance Cancer Health Equity through Scholar Training

“…This report described the implementation of the UHAND Program, a UH and MDA collaboration to create a comprehensive career development training program for scholars underrepresented in the fields of behavioral cancer prevention and cancer disparities research, funded by the NCI’s Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity initiative. The UHAND Program incorporated best practices of successful training programs, such as integrated education (diverse professional teams working together, cross-training, exposure to a broad range of disciplines, an integrated curriculum with different subjects, and a variety of learning methods) [ 29 , 30 , 31 ]; professional development [ 29 ]; collaboration between researchers and advocates [ 24 , 25 ]; collaborative partnerships between institutions [ 32 ]; broad stakeholder engagement [ 25 , 29 ]; targeted approaches for at-risk groups [ 25 ]; training programs at predoctoral, doctoral, and postdoctoral levels [ 30 ]; continuous evaluation data on programmatic impact and outcomes [ 30 ], while uniquely focusing on research and training in behavioral risk factors for cancer—prioritizing diverse women and minority researchers for training—and facilitating knowledge dissemination and translation between researchers and community. This report presents outcomes relative to the 7 goals of the UHAND Program’s work with scholars and information that may be helpful for the design of future training programs that share similar goals.…”

“…The UHAND Program incorporates best practices of successful training programs, such as the use of a variety of learning methods [ 29 , 30 , 31 ] and the continuous evaluation of data on programmatic impact and outcomes [ 30 ]; likewise, it features several relatively unique characteristics, such as collaboration between researchers and advocates [ 24 , 25 ], and between institutions [ 32 ]. Additionally, the UHAND Program prioritizes diverse minority researchers and women for participation, focuses on behavioral risk factors for cancer, and includes knowledge dissemination and translation between researchers and community through social media and other means.…”