Office of Education and Training
Connecting the UCSF cancer community with education, mentoring and career development across all trainee levels.
The goal of this program is to develop the next generation of clinical scientists to be effective partners with discovery scientists and conduct high impact and innovative patient-centered cancer research. Open to MDs and MD/PhDs with faculty or instructor appointment at UCSF by start of program. See eligibility and application requirements below. Applications are now closed. More information below. Questions? Email Jennifer Seuferer.
Two seminars series are offered and open to HDFCCC faculty and trainees - Concept to Completion, Strategies for Successful Clinical Trials (C2C) and Career Development and Leadership (CD/L)Seminars. Upcoming seminars below. Register here. All seminars are from 2-4pm unless otherwise noted
July 22 - 26, 2024. Time each day will vary but always sometime between 1pm - 5pm. Registration
Lead by Michelle Arkin, PhD, Michael Cheng, MD, and Trever Bivona, MD/PhD
This workshop will provide training and a rigorous foundation for hypothesis-driven patient-focused research, covering clinical and preclinical iteration. Attendees will participate in interactive didactic and individualized discussions that culminate in a translational and/or clinical research protocol synopsis focused on testing a patient-centered hypothesis of their interest(s).
For most topics, participants will first view online lectures, followed by in-person, small group discussion. Participants must be able to participate in the in-person group discussions to join the course. Open to postdocs, graduate students, senior clinical fellows and early career faculty.
Learning Objectives:
Date |
Topic |
July 8 |
Orientation via zoom Course website & pre-recorded videos open |
Monday 7/22 |
|
1-1:30pm |
Lunch |
1:30-2:45pm |
Preclinical Foundations & Case Studies (Michelle Arkin, PhD) |
2:45-3pm |
Class Project Introduction |
Tuesday 7/23 |
|
3-3:45pm |
Combination therapies in Cancer (Cathy Smith, MD) |
3:45-4:30pm |
Combination Studies (Michael Cheng, MD) |
|
Project Work |
Wednesday 7/24 |
|
TBD |
Radionuclide Therapies (Mike Evans, PhD) |
4-5pm |
Pharmacodynamic Studies (Adil Daud, MD) |
|
Class project work |
Thursday 7/25 |
|
2-3pm |
Drug development from the perspective of a clinical pharmacist – (Lisa Janssen Carlson, Pharm D) |
3-4pm |
Synopsis of Clinical Trial Design Group Discussion (Michael Cheng, MD) |
|
Class project work |
Friday 7/26 |
|
TBD |
Project presentations |
This series of seminars provides high-yield, practical information about designing, funding, and conducting patient-facing oncology trials. Each year 7 seminars are offered. To receive the Concept to Completion Certificate of Completion, you must attend 6 out of the 7 with in two years. Open to senior fellows and early career faculty. Contact Jennifer Seuferer for more information.
Aug |
1. Protocol structure & review 2. Fostering diversity in clinical research |
Nov |
3. Types of Trials/sponsors & general activation process 4. Informed consent & clinical trial ethics |
Feb |
5. Clinical trial design and data analysis 6. Clinical outcomes research, PROs & database topics |
May | 7. Building your research portfolio & keeping it in the black |
This seminar series includes career development and leadership topics to help physician scientists advance their careers. Its a 2 year curriculum with topics repeating every other year.
July |
1. Demystifying the Climb - Promotions at UCSF 2. Promoting an Inclusive Environment |
October |
3. Strategic Service Roles and Building Networks 4. Organizational Structure of an NCI Designated Cancer Center |
January |
5. Engaging community in your work- how to do it and why it matters 6. Communication & conflict management especially in multi-disciplinary teams |
April |
7. Building, leading and sustaining an effective team, including planning for funding 8. Maximizing the impact of your work – preprints, twitter, social media |
May | 9. Leveraging philanthropy to build and sustain your research program |
The goal of the HDFCCC K12 Physician Scholar Program in Clinical Oncology (PSPCO) is to foster the development of the next generation of clinical scientists to be effective partners with discovery scientists and conduct high impact and innovative patient-centered cancer research. The PSPCO will be housed in the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC), bringing to bear the exceptional research, clinical, and training environment of one of the world’s leading health sciences institutes. Building on recent research and technology advancements and key areas for training identified in the HDFCCC strategic review, this multidisciplinary training program will leverage strengths in basic cancer research, experimental therapeutics, and clinical research methodology. An accomplished group of faculty mentors will bring expertise in cancer-related clinical and translational research, imaging, patient-reported outcomes, biomarkers, healthcare disparities, community engagement, and biostatistics.
The two-year Program, which incorporates mentored research, career development guidance, and a core curriculum, is designed to allow completion of the year-long Advanced Training in Clinic Research certificate program (or just ad hoc classes from the program) in epidemiologic and biostatistical methods in Year 1. Year 2 will focus on mentored research, professional skills, and achieving independence. Each Scholar will work with at least one clinically focused and one laboratory-based mentor on their career development committee to design an individual career development plan (ICDP). The ICDP will outline goals and tailored didactic and hands-on training experiences (including short clinical and laboratory rotations, grant-writing workshops, etc.) that will ensure competency across four core areas: (1) clinical research methods; (2) principles of translational cancer research and drug development; (3) academic success skills and (4) responsible conduct of research. Upon completion, scholars will have the tools to lead independent, rigorous, and impactful patient-centered clinical research programs.
The PSPCO seeks to recruit Scholars from diverse disciplinary and demographic backgrounds. Scholars must have MDs or MD/PhDs, have completed residency/fellowship training, and be committed to a career in patient-facing, clinical-translational cancer research (see applicant eligibility requirements for examples of “patient-facing” research). We do not require a minimum amount of patient-facing research experience, but the proposed research project must be patient-facing and the work must have some link to discovery science, such as, clinical work informed by lab-based search, projects that incorporate novel biomedical imaging tools, or projects that will generate or utilize human biospecimens for research. The Program is structured to meet different needs. For example, there are several options for clinical research training, ranging from elective courses to a master’s degree in clinical research. In addition, Scholars will be able to tailor their experiential learning, coursework, workshops, and 1:1 mentoring with Mentors to build on their prior training and research experiences. Scholars are expected to apply for an individual K award (e.g. K08 or equivalent) by the completion of the training encompassed by the K12 program.
The HDFCCC K12 seeks to provide training in each of four areas: (1) patient-facing clinical cancer research methods; (2) principles of translational cancer research and drug discovery; and (3) academic success skills. Training will be accomplished through:
In addition, the Scholar’s home department/division must commit to ensuring 75% (50% for surgeon-scientists) protected time for the Scholar’s research and PSPCO activities and must agree to cover approximately half of the over-the-cap scholar salary. The Cancer Center will support half of over-the-cap excess trainee salary for 75% effort (minimum of 50% for surgeon-scientists) at a maximum full-time salary of $214,000 (ex: $160,500 at 75% effort) and associated fringe benefits. While this support will be calculated to actual salary and benefits, the maximum Cancer Center support per trainee will be $38,221 a year, assuming a full FTE salary of $214,000 and a fringe benefit rate of 26.35%. The maximum number of trainees per year is 2 as capped by the K12 budget. The five department/divisions list below have already agreed to provide this level of support for PSPCO scholars:
If you do not have a primary appointment in one of the above departments/divisions, you may still apply but must provide a letter of support from your department/division head stating they will provide the requested level of support as stated above and your department/division head will need to sign a MOU with the Cancer Center (template at end of RFA).
Current or previous NIH K award recipients are not eligible to apply.
The K12 grant will provide salary support up to $100,000 per year plus fringe benefits based on a full-time appointment, for up to two years of funding. Research and development support up to $30,000 per year may be provided for the following expenses:
Each cycle, members of the PSPCO Advisory Committee will review applications and select Scholars using a process modeled on NIH peer review. The selection process and interviews will occur in January 2025, applicants will be informed in February, and the program will begin July 1, 2025.
Selection criteria will focus on the demonstrated strengths and future potential of the candidate for a career in patient-facing cancer research, and their commitment to the UCSF PRIDE Values. Selection criteria will include:
Applicants should submit the following, in the order listed below, as a single PDF file (11pt Arial, 1.5 line spacing):