Diversity Supplement Webinar

NCI Diversity Supplement and Other Diversity-focused Funding Opportunities

Samson Y. Gebreab, PhD, MSc

Program Director, Diversity Training Branch
National Cancer Institute (NCI) Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities

Register in advance for this webinar here

Join us for a webinar to promote the funding mechanism that supports diversity in the scientific research workforce and provides additional funding for NIH grants. There are numerous eligible NIH-funded parent grants but very few awarded diversity supplements. The supplement awards funding for students’ research training from high school to faculty levels within the original project’s scope. It encourages applications for trainees underrepresented (e.g., individuals from racial and ethnic groups, disabilities, and disadvantaged backgrounds) in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences. Topics covered are diversity supplement application components, criteria, tips, and perspectives of successfully awarded faculty.

Agenda:

1. Presentation: NCI Diversity Supplement and Other Diversity-focused Funding Opportunities
   Samson Y. Gebreab, PhD, MSc, Program Director, Diversity Training Branch, NCI Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities
2. Moderated Panel: Samson Gebreab, PhD, MSc, and UIC faculty who have received a diversity award for trainees

Guest Speaker:

Samson Y. Gebreab, PhD, MSc has been a Program Director in the Diversity Training Branch of the NCI’s Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities since 2020. In this role, Gebreab contributes to the grant management of Feasibility Studies to Build Collaborative Partnerships in Cancer Research (P20), NCI Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research, and NCI Supplements to Promote Reentry into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers, and conducts analyses on research activities and funding addressing cancer health disparities and minority health.

Moderator:

Beatriz Peñalver Bernabé, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Urology. She has been a chemical and biological engineer applying systems biology approaches to regenerative medicine for more than 10 years. Broadly, Peñalver Bernabé is interested in dynamic biological processes (developmental processes, disease progression, and treatment), especially those with applications in women’s healthcare. Since 2009, Peñalver Bernabé has focused on developing statistical and computational platforms to analyze the evolution and treatment of breast cancer, the dynamical effects of mechano-transduction into cellular programs, and ovarian follicle development in vivo and in vitro.

Panelists:

Larisa Nonn, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Pathology, the Director of Graduate Studies Cancer Biology Concentration (GEMS), and the Co-Director UIC K12 IRACDA Institutional Postdoctoral Training Program. Nonn’s research focuses on prostate cancer and vitamin D. The Nonn lab’s research has grown to include microRNAs, zinc homeostasis in the prostate, and analysis of clinical trial patient specimens to validate in vitro findings. She has been at UIC for 15 years, and her research incorporates state-of-the-art methods, patient-derived models, and clinical samples.

Paul Grippo, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and the Associate Director for Cancer Research Career Enhancement and Education at the Cancer Center. He has been focused on the design and utility of mouse models of cancer for more than 20 years. As he continues to generate new mouse models, he studies them to understand disease progression and the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms of those events. Grippo was one of the first to target mutant KRAS in the mouse pancreas, demonstrating that KRAS expression in acinar cells results in acinar-to-ductal metaplasia and pre-invasive lesions.