The BCM-TSU CURED Cancer Research Education Program hosted 19 TSU CURED scholars this summer, including five incoming freshmen and fourteen graduate students and PharmD students. The program trained students for eight weeks at Baylor and covered training at the Advanced Technology Cores (Technology Week) and cancer research labs.
About C-REP
To address gaps of underrepresented minority representation in biomedical research careers, Baylor College of Medicine is collaborating with Texas Southern University for the exploratory (P20) grant-funded BCM/TSU Collaborative Union for Cancer Research, Education and Disparities (CURED) Collaborative Research Education Program (C-REP).
The Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center (DLDCCC) is an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center housed under Baylor. Texas Southern is an institution that serves underserved health disparity populations and is one of the largest historically Black colleges and universities. Both are in Harris County, which is the most racially diverse county in the U.S.
Despite their proximity to the world’s largest healthcare and biomedical research complex – the Texas Medical Center – underrepresented minority populations in Harris County have high cancer, morbidity and mortality rates. This population also remains underrepresented in biomedical research careers and innovative cancer clinical research.
BCM/TSU P20 CURED C-REP aims to promote novel and effective venues to attract underrepresented minority students into biomedical research and career pathways, specifically in cancer. In addition, the collaboration will promote comprehensive outreach education focused on cancer disparities and community engagement that will benefit students, faculty and staff.
CURED C-REP scholars will comprise a cohort of 20 Texas Southern students from underrepresented minority communities who are in existing undergraduate programs geared toward future biomedical careers, as well as graduate pharmacy and pharmacology students interested in cancer post-doctoral residency or research fellowships.
Program initiatives
- Develop and provide an eight-week mentored cancer research experience to a cohort of 20 underrepresented minority trainees from Texas Southern every summer. This CURED C-REP Summer Research Experience will be a mentored research experience within the DLDCCC and Texas Southern’s research infrastructures. Scholars will be paired with projects submitted by research mentors, as well as a CURED pilot project.
- Create and deploy a cancer-specific educational curriculum to include hands-on training in emerging cancer research technologies, educational seminars and professional development trainings. This will support the scientific training and career advancement of the diverse pipeline of Texas Southern undergraduate and graduate-level students who aspire to a career focused on biomedical science and clinical, translational, laboratory or health services cancer research.
- Develop and implement a CURED comprehensive outreach education program designed to increase awareness, knowledge and understanding of cancer-related research, career pathways and cancer disparities. This program will occur year round.
C-REP is part of the NIHP20 BCM/TSU Collaborative Union for Cancer Research, Education and Disparities (CURED) program. Dr. Rayne Rouce is the BCM principal investigator, and Dr. Shixia Huang is the BCM C-REP leader. This program has an equal partnership with Texas Southern University. Dr. Veronica Ajewole is the TSU principal investigator and Dr. Huan Xie is the TSU C-REP leader. Drs. Debra Murray (BCM) and Flora Estes (TSU) are co-leaders of CREP program.