Training Program in Cancer Biology

Project Summary
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai proposes to continue a highly successful Training Program in
Cancer Biology for 5 predoctoral students and 5 postdoctoral fellows. The planned duration is up to 2 years
for each predoctoral slot and up to 3 years for each postdoctoral slot. The projected number of individuals to
be trained over the proposed project period is 15 predoctoral and 10 postdoctoral fellows. Its leadership has
extensive experience in cancer research mentoring and a well-documented commitment to both graduate
education and postdoctoral training. This institutional program encompasses training faculty from 6 basic
and 4 clinical departments as well as 12 matrix institutes and involves laboratory and computational
research. The dynamic and interdisciplinary nature of the Program is evidenced by co- authored papers
and multi-investigator grants. All faculty members have peer-reviewed R01 or R01-equivalent support
from funding agencies for cancer-related studies. The Program attracts and develops a cadre of outstanding
Ph.D. and M.D., Ph.D. students, and postdoctoral fellows, with our earliest trainees having established
cancer-focused research careers at prestigious institutions. The curriculum for predoctoral and
postdoctoral trainees involves common elements including several new advanced didactic and multi-modal
cancer biology courses and advanced electives, which impart state-of-the-art training in emerging
technologies critical to basic and translational cancer investigations. All trainees also participate in
regular conferences, which further expose them to clinical aspects of cancer. There are important specific
training elements for each component as well. There is a rigorous evaluation and selection process, and
the program is both cognizant of and actively involved in diversity recruitment. New components of the
program also include additional training venues to specifically aid postdoctoral trainees in seeking
academic positions and a formal training faculty track in which promising junior faculty members may
apply with a training faculty member to co-mentor a highly qualified trainee, an approach providing
mentorship by the training faculty member both of the trainee and the faculty co-mentor. The program has
contributed importantly to the remarkable increase in cancer research and NCI funding over the past
decade. Mount Sinai has also made enormous commitments in resources and facilities benefitting the
Program including support for specific elements by the Tisch Cancer Institute an NCI designated Cancer
Center and the Department of Oncological Sciences. Trainees work closely with faculty drawn from
throughout Mount Sinai ensuring that their training is both rigorous and sufficiently broad in scope to
take into account practical issues faced by physicians in preventing and treating cancer.

Grant Number: 5T32CA078207-25
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Stuart Aaronson