Program Curriculum

Core Competencies

Participation in the T32 Training Program will facilitate development of a depth and breadth of knowledge in 5 areas:

1. translational cancer research, to gain exposure to mechanistic studies in translational research and their importance to the human organism; 
2. precision medicine to gain experience in state-of-the-art ways to diagnose and target treatment of cancer patients based on genomic or immunogenetic profiles; 
3. translational genetics and genomics, to gain competency in translational genomics needed for future understanding and implementation of cancer precision medicine; 
4. bioinformatics, to learn how to read and interpret large omics datasets; and, 
5. exposure to relevant tumor boards (monthly) and to industrial collaborations with academic faculty mentors on large scale genomic applications to cancer precision medicine.

Program Curriculum

Both graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will have a defined curriculum as well as the ability to take electives offered within the GSBS and also through the T32 Training Program. We will train our students and postdoctoral fellows on an individual basis, taking into consideration their specific areas of interest within our core competency required areas. All fellows are required to complete one course offering in each of the program competency areas including translational genomics and bioinformatics, translational cancer research, precision medicine approaches, and ethics (maximum of 4 classes over 2 years). These courses will be selected in consultation with the program director and fellow mentors to best support the background and training objectives for each fellow.

Additional Training Activities

Fellows are required to participate in additional training to ensure proficiency in core competencies, critical scientific reading and presentation skills, grant writing, and leadership skills.

• Institutional Grand Rounds
• Clinical Tumor Boards
• NCI Clinical Trials Network Working Groups
• Annual Symposium/Retreat
• Leadership Course