The University of Illinois Cancer Center’s Trainee Membership Annual Meeting was attended by 65 students, postdoctoral fellows and early career faculty interested in or already being mentored by Cancer Center members or conducting research in cancer-related areas.
The Trainee Membership program allows them to experience Cancer Center membership, and the August 29 Annual Meeting highlighted trainee-related activities and resources at the Cancer Center.
- Larisa Nonn, PhD, Associate Director for Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC) at the Cancer Center, provided an overview of the Trainee Membership Program.
- Senior Research Scientist Margaret Wright, PhD, Co-Director of the Cancer Center’s Data Integration Shared Resource (DISR), introduced attendees to the Cancer Center’s new Data Hub for Communities, a free community resource and interactive platform that allows anyone to explore and visualize data about the burden of cancer and its risk factors across multiple geographic levels within Illinois.
- Aminah Abdullah, an Associate Director in the Cancer Center Office of Community Engagement and Health Equity (CEHE), gave a presentation about its innovative Hope Leaders grant program, which pairs community partners and cancer biologists to build genuine bidirectional relationships between scientists and communities. Community partner organizations each receive a $20,000 grant award spread evenly across two years. Cancer biologists are awarded $30,000 spread across two years with $20,000 in the first year. Some Hope leaders awardees were on hand to share their experiences with the program: Cancer Center member and cancer biologist Ekrem Emrah Er, PhD and graduate student Alexa Gajda from the Er Lab, as well as Jiana Calixto, MPH, Director of Community Health and Engagement at Equal Hope, a vital partner of the Cancer Center with deep involvement in and support for our intersecting efforts to erase cancer disparities.
The Trainee Membership program is open to high school, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral and clinical fellows who are currently engaged in or have previously been engaged in cancer-related research at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC).