Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (CURE)
Background Information
CRCHD’s Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (CURE) program offers unique training and career development opportunities to enhance diversity in cancer and cancer health disparities research. With a focus on broadening the cadre of underrepresented investigators engaging in cancer research, the CURE program identifies promising candidates from high school through junior investigator levels and provides them with a continuum of competitive funding opportunities.
The CURE program offers funding opportunities to support the training and career development for students, researchers, and junior investigators using research supplements, predoctoral fellowships, and career development awards.
The research supplements are designed for principal investigators holding specific types of NIH grants who need funds for administrative supplements to foster diversity in the research workforce. These supplements support and recruit students, postdoctoral, and eligible investigators from groups shown to be underrepresented in biomedical research.
The CURE supplements include NCI Cancer Center (P30) supplements for high school and undergraduate student research experiences, supplements to the NCI Cancer Education and Career Development Program (R25T), supplements to the Institutional Clinical Oncology Research Development Awards (K12), and supplements to the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Institutional Research Training Grants (T32).
Fellowships include the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31) that provides up to five years of support for research training leading to the Ph.D. or equivalent research degree, the combined M.D./Ph.D. degree, or other combined professional doctorate/research Ph.D. degrees in biomedical, behavioral sciences, health services, or clinical sciences.
CURE’s career development awards include:
- NCI Mentored Career Development Award to Promote Diversity (K01)
- NCI Mentored Clinical Scientist Award to Promote Diversity (K08)
- Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Award to Promote Diversity (K23)
- NCI Transition Career Development Award to Promote Diversity (K22)
The CURE Paradigm: Enhancing Workforce Diversity
This new NCI-CRCHD monograph describes the Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (CURE), a model training paradigm for increasing diversity within the cancer and cancer health disparities research workforce. The monograph traces CURE's goals, its 12-year history, and the program's achievements to date, as well as spotlights five CURE trainees.
