UNM Cancer Center program to help new scientists learn nuances of conducting science

Starting a new scientific research program is like starting a new business. Both need to create a set of systems to track people, projects and money. But scientists' formal training doesn't always include business classes. To bridge this gap, Michelle Ozbun, PhD, at the University of New Mexico Cancer Center, is improving a program that helps new scientists learn nuances of conducting science. Using a 3-year $360,000 Institutional Research grant from the American Cancer Society, the program not only distributes the funds in several $30,000 grants each year but also helps the grant awardees to manage their research. Dr. Ozbun recently won a renewal of the grant, marking the eighth time that the UNM Cancer Center has done so.

"Many new professors coming in from their postdoctoral training don't know how to keep track of the fiscal part of the grant," says Dr. Ozbun. "So, we have a number of mentoring components that we offer." The components include classes that teach how to track expenses and how to write compelling grant applications. Grant applications are similar to business plans; both are written to procure investment. Dr. Ozbun also manages a seminar series in which the ACS Institutional Research Grant awardees present their research accomplishments. The seminars offer a way for the awardees to get feedback and to meet other, established cancer scientists — in other words, to network.

Dr. Ozbun places mentorship as the highest priority for new professors. "Applicants [for the grants] really need a key mentor who is a cancer researcher," says Dr. Ozbun. Like a board of directors who guides a new company founder in building a business strategy, the one or more cancer-scientist mentors help a new professor build a long-term research plan. "Moving the research to the next grant is an important part of the process," says Dr. Ozbun.

The program has been very successful. Over the past 21 years of funding at UNM, more than 64 cancer scientists have launched their careers with these grants. Past awardees include Dr. Ozbun herself, Bridget Wilson, PhD, and Richard Larson, PhD. Dr. Ozbun studies human papillomavirus and earlier this year won a grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Dr. Wilson co-leads a UNM Cancer Center research group and recently won a $12 million 5-year grant to support systems biology research at the New Mexico Spatiotemporal Modeling Center. Dr. Larson oversees health research at UNM as the Executive Vice Chancellor and Chancellor for Research at the UNM Health Sciences Center.

Nationally, the ACS Institutional Research Grants have helped 47 Nobel Prize winners get their careers off the ground. The ACS raises money through several events nationwide, including in New Mexico. "This is a way that the money comes back to this community," says Dr. Ozbun. "It funds people here."

The grants support new professors from almost every field. The program also sets aside funds to support research in survivorship. "We're getting much better at prolonging people's lives," Dr. Ozbun says. "But we need to be concerned about what the quality of those lives will be."

Not every institution that wins these grants sets aside money for survivorship research or offers training for the awardees, but the UNM Cancer Center program does. "I think the mentoring is really invaluable," says Dr. Ozbun. "Mentoring is how we learn everything in life."

SOURCE UNM Cancer Center