The UAB Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program (CPCTP) is one of the longest and continually sustained R25 training programs in the country. The CPCTP follows in the footsteps of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the nation’s first NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. The CPCTP was initially funded by NCI in 1988 and has consistently achieved exemplary ratings throughout its 24-year history. Strengths noted in our past renewals include robust research bases in Nutrition Sciences and Public Health; dissertations and research projects having a clear cancer prevention and control focus; uniformly high trainee satisfaction; and the dedication of key personnel and staff.

We believe that the true measure of a training program’s success is the achievement of its graduates. We take an appropriate degree of professional satisfaction in the fact that the CPCTP has produced stellar graduates. Just a few examples of our success stories (ranging from distant past to most recent graduates) are as follows:

• John Graff, PhD (Associate Professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Cancer Bioinformatics and Surveillance, Cancer Institute of New Jersey)
• Leah Alexander, PhD (Assistant Professor of Graduate Studies and Research, Meharry Medical College)
• Kristine A. Donovan, PhD (Assistant Professor of Health Outcomes and Behavior, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute)
• James DuMond, Jr. PhD (Dean, Professor and Chair of Environmental Science and Technology Texas Southern University)
• Kamaleshwar Singh, PhD (Research Associate Professor of Biology Texas Southern University)
• Jessica Muilenburg, PhD (Associate Professor of Health Promotion & Behavior University of Georgia)
• Levi Ross, PhD (Research Assistant Professor of Community Health and Health Behavior, Roswell Park Cancer Institute).
• Derek M. Huffman, PhD (Postdoctoral fellow and recent K99 recipient at Albert Einstein College of Medicine).
• Roycelynn Mentor-Marcel, PhD (Biomedical Life Scientist, Science Applications International Corporation Congressionally-Directed Medical Research Programs)
• Joseph Tyson DeAngelis, PhD (Research Scientist, Genomic Services Laboratory, Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology).

Moreover, two of our current trainees were selected as Fogarty International Research Scholars and have bright futures in global cancer prevention and control research: Renicha T. McCree-Hale (fellowship in Tanzania) and Emily Vogtmann (fellowship in China). These examples of early career successes demonstrate that our CPCTP is accomplishing its primary goal of training and mentoring the cancer prevention and control research leaders of today and tomorrow.

Throughout its long and continuous history, the CPCTP has demonstrated consistent success as an inter-disciplinary research training program and has trained or is currently training a total of 137 trainees (18 are enrolled currently and the rest are graduates).

In the period 2006-2011, trainees reported 374 publications and presentations as indicators of scholarly productivity. These data represent a 30% increase in scholarly productivity over the previous training cycle (2001-2005) when 287 publications and presentations were reported. The diversity of trainees interdisciplinary scholarship is reflected by manuscripts in more than 100 different journals. These publications include prestigious, high impact journals such as Cancer, NEJM, JNCI, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention and Laboratory Medicine. The quality and number of peer reviewed papers and abstracts and national and local presentations reported by current and former CPCTP trainees is impressive and indicates substantial scholarly productivity in keeping with NCI priorities and CPCTP objectives. Publications by current and former trainees are cited in the progress report and listed in the bibliography.