CCNY-MSK Partnership Training Programs

About the Training Programs

As our understanding of the many causes of health disparities expands, the need for researchers who are able to conduct transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research becomes increasingly crucial. The Partnership offers undergraduate and graduate training programs designed to provide opportunities for outstanding students to successfully conduct competitive biomedical research at CCNY and/or MSK, as well as to provide mentorship and guidance for career decisions.

The overall goals of the training program are:

1. To increase the number of competitively trained, underrepresented minority students who enroll in and complete MD, PhD or MD/PhD programs and

2. To increase the number of these students who pursue cancer-related research careers.

CCNY-MSK Partnership Logo

Partnership Undergraduate Research Training (PURT)

The CCNY-MSK Partnership's Research Education Core offers the PURT program for undergraduate students. The primary goals of PURT are to implement joint education and training opportunities between CCNY and MSK in order to attract minority students at all levels in their academic careers to be engaged in cancer research, and to support their career development. We prepare our trainees for laboratory positions and for graduate work. Trainees compete for a summer research placement based on their academic performance and recommendation letters. The PURT also offers a year long series of seminars in which invited speakers from various institutions discuss various aspects of career development and research opportunities for trainees entering doctoral programs. Trainees are required to take a course on ethics in biomedicine and research. Trainees are required to present their work at national and local meetings.

There are four different research tracks:

1. PURT

The primary goals of PURT is to implement joint education and training opportunities between CCNY and MSK to attract undergraduate students at all levels in their careers in cancer research, and to support their career development. We especially encourage minority and economically disadvantage students to apply.

2. PURT Summer Clinical Oncology Research

PURT Summer Clinical Oncology Research Experience is an eight-week program offered to women undergraduates and post-baccalaureate students at CCNY and supported by the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Office of Faculty Development and the CCNY-MSK Partnership. The goal of the program is to encourage the participation of women in cancer research. We encourage underrepresented minority students to apply. Freshman are encouraged to apply.

3. PURT Nanotechnology Research

This program offers one year of research training in Molecular Imaging, Nanotechnology for minority undergraduate juniors and seniors. Students will be trained in the Department of Radiology at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK).

4. PURT Community Outreach and Behavioral Science Research

Undergraduate students will have opportunities to work on behavioral science, health disparities, and community outreach/community-based participatory research projects with mentors from CCNY and/or MSK.

All students regardless of track will be provided a research stipend and opportunity to attend a scientific conference.

General Program Timeline:

  • Application Opens – Late Fall
  • Student Selection and Placement – Spring
  • Research Training – Summer
  • Fulfill Program Requirements during the following Fall and Spring

 

CCNY-MSK Partnership Graduate Training Program

The Partnership’s graduate training program is open to doctoral students who are enrolled in the CCNY Clinical Psychology program and show an interest in cancer health disparities. Trainees who express a research interests in community and cancer health disparities will be selected according to their GPAs and letters of recommendation. We will then pair them with appropriate research mentors from CCNY and or MSK and will provide funding for 2 years. All graduate trainees will be required to:

  1. Make presentations of their research findings once a year at a national conference
  2. Participate in the Graduate Health Disparities Curriculum,
  3. Participate in professional development workshops, which include, Taking the Next Step in Your Career, The Art & Science of Effective Communication, Time Management, and Interview.
  4. Regularly attend seminars at CCNY or MSK, and
  5. Participate in grant writing workshops at the CUNY Graduate Center or at MSK.

We expect that graduate trainees will complete and publish manuscripts from a thesis in cancer health disparities in a timely manner. Further expectations are that the students will go onto postdoctoral positions to pursue cancer health disparities research.

Last Updated: 05/15/2024 16:26