Partnership for the Advancement of Cancer Research Project

In recognition of the need to recruit more minorities and underrepresented individuals into cancer research and to increase the attention to cancer health disparities research, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded funds to enhance and expand an existing collaboration between New Mexico State University (NMSU) and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC). This collaboration is designed to enhance the opportunities of minorities and underrepresented individuals, including Hispanics and Native Americans, to become trained and experienced in cancer research.

This five-year award was funded in September 2007 by the NCI's Comprehensive Minority Biomedical Branch (CMBB), which is a program dedicated to addressing disparities in cancer incidence and mortality in underserved ethnic minorities. The CMBB is exploring a potentially powerful approach for addressing health disparities by funding collaborations between Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) and NCI-designated Cancer Centers (CCs) to take maximum advantage of their respective expertise and experience. The philosophy of the National Cancer Institute is that an ethnically diverse population of cancer researchers and health-care providers is best poised to meet the medical needs of traditionally underserved groups

This U54 award supports initiatives to recruit and train minorities in cancer research, as well as five pilot and two full research projects that involve investigators from the four research divisions at the FHCRC and various scientific departments at NMSU.

Principal Investigators:

Beti Thompson, Ph.D.
Member, Public Health Sciences Division
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Mary O'Connell, Ph.D.
Professor, Agronomy and Horticulture
New Mexico State University, Las Cruces

If you have any questions about the information contained on this website, please contact Jennifer Anderson, Project Coordinator, at (206) 667.7480 or janderso@fhcrc.org.