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Overview
The CCQTP provides trainees with the fundamental
knowledge and skill competencies that they need to conduct cutting edge
research in cancer care quality in collaborative team-oriented environments.
The CCQTP includes two training components:
- A specialized curriculum that involves coursework, a
journal club, an immersion experience in tumor board meetings, training in the
responsible conduct of research, and occasional special seminars and lectures;
and
- Hands-on research experience in multidisciplinary
research teams focused on cancer care quality, with mentoring provided by
experienced faculty members from diverse disciplines.
Training typically lasts two years.
Coursework
Required courses for pre-doctoral and post-doctoral
program participants include:
- Cancer Pathobiology (PATH 225). This 3-credit hour
course examines pathobiological features of cancer. An interdisciplinary
approach draws from epidemiology, genetics, molecular biology, and clinical
medicine to investigate cancer etiology, pathogenesis, prevention, and
treatment. Alternatively program participants can take Cancer Biology (BIOL
445).
- Cancer Epidemiology and Pathogenesis (EPID 770). This
3-credit hour course emphasizes the integration of epidemiologic data with
laboratory and clinical research findings. Issues in epidemiologic research
design, analysis, and interpretation are presented in the context of cancer
epidemiology. Alternatively, program participants can take Advanced Cancer
Epidemiology (EPID 775).
- Developing Proposals for Health Services and Policy
Research (HPAA 872). This 3-credit hour course examines the NIH research review
process and outlines some basic principles about how to conceptualize and write
fundable research proposals within the investigator-initiated (R01) framework.
Students apply these grant-writing principles to produce a research proposal in
NIH, CMS, or AHRQ format. Alternatively, program participants can take a
grant-writing seminar in their home department (e.g., NUTR 371 or EPID 201).
- Cancer Care Quality (NEW). This new 3-credit hour
course examines the quality of cancer care in the United States and introduces
students to the concepts, theories, and methods of measuring and improving
cancer care quality.
- Informed Decision-Making in Cancer Care (NEW). This new
3-credit hour course will examine clinical decision-making in cancer care from
the perspectives of providers, patients, and families. The course is predicated
on the notion that cancer care quality depends on productive interactions
between prepared, proactive practice teams and informed, activated patients and
families.
- Dissemination of Research Discoveries and Innovations
to Improve Cancer Care Quality (NEW). This new 3-credit hour course will
introduce the concepts, theories, and methods of disseminating research
discoveries and innovations to improve quality in cancer care. The course will
also examine methods for conducting rigorous research on dissemination strategies
and outcomes.
Clinicians with prior training in oncology may substitute
additional coursework in research methods or health services for the required
courses in cancer pathobiology and cancer epidemiology. Trainees must include
proposals for course substitution in their training plans, and must seek
approval from their mentors.
Other Required Curriculum Components
In addition to these required courses, the program’s
specialized curriculum includes other, less formally structured education,
training, and professional development components.
- Journal Club. During the spring semester each year, all
trainees attend a weekly journal club. At a typical session, two or three
trainees present and discuss an article that they have selected, with input
from the faculty member coordinating the journal club. Each trainee organizes
two sessions. Toward the end of the semester, trainees present work-in-progress
(e.g., manuscripts, research proposals, and research results).
- Multidisciplinary Conferences and Tumor Board Meetings.
In their first year of training, trainees must attend at least two
multidisciplinary conferences and tumor board meetings per month at the UNC Clinical
Cancer Center
and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive
Cancer Center.
At these conferences and tumor boards, current issues and developments in
treatment and care management are discussed. Care planning and coordination for
specific patients, and clinical trial eligibility and participation are also
discussed. In the second semester, trainees must present a mock-case to their
primary mentor in which they describe quality problem in a hypothetical
patient’s cancer care and then discuss the clinical, psycho-social, and
organizational factors that might have contributed to the problem.
- Training in Responsible Conduct of Research. All
trainees will be required to take Responsible Conduct in Research, a week-long
summer short-course organized by Dr. David Weber (Epidemiology, Medicine,
Pediatrics) and the Biomedical IRB. This course is designed to meet all NIH
requirements for teaching scientific ethics. Topics include maintaining data
properly, fraud and plagiarism, ethical use of humans in research, ethical use
of animals in research, monitoring clinical trials, handling misconduct
complaints, conflicts of interest, and requirements for research under HIPAA.
In addition, all trainees must complete the mandatory training program, the
Collaborative IRB Training Initiative (CITI) Basic Course.
- Simulated Peer Review of Research Proposals. As
trainees approach the end of the pre-doctoral or post-doctoral training, they
must prepare a grant proposal in PHS398 format and submit that proposal for
simulated peer review. All trainees, program faculty, and proposal
co-investigators will be invited to attend the simulated peer review meeting.
The program will arrange for a primary and secondary reviewer for each
proposal, drawn from program faculty and (if necessary) outside experts.
Primary and secondary reviewers will prepare written reviews, and discussion
will ensue in a format modeled after an NIH study section. Simulated peer
review sessions will typically occur in the spring semester.
Optional Curriculum Components
Trainees are encouraged to attend other seminars and
lectures sponsored by the various departments, schools, and centers
participating in the program. UNC-Chapel Hill offers a wealth of opportunity
for trainees to explore and deepen their knowledge about cancer care quality
and research methods.
Trainees are also encouraged to take short-courses and
workshops to enhance their methodological and professional skills. The Odum
Institute for Research in Social Science, for example, offers many short
courses throughout the academic year. Course offerings cover grant writing and
proposal development, quantitative methods, qualitative methods, spatial
analysis methods, and survey research. Likewise, the Health Sciences Library
offers workshops in database searching, bibliographic formatting programs,
scholarly publishing, and poster presentations.
Finally, trainees are encouraged to take additional
coursework in specific content areas or research methods as appropriate, based
on input from their mentors. For example, trainees with prior training in
oncology may substitute additional coursework in research methods or health
services for the required courses in cancer pathobiology and cancer
epidemiology. Trainees must include proposals for course substitution in their
training plans, and must seek approval from their mentors.
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