Cancer poses an increasing health and economic burden globally, but the impact is especially profound in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that are estimated to see higher incidence and mortality than high-income countries in the coming decades. There is an urgent need to develop a competent workforce to advance research priorities that are relevant to LMICs’ cancer control goals.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is facilitating the development of a global community of practice (CoP) for early career investigators (ECIs), providing a convening platform for ECIs to cultivate relationships, explore possible career paths, identify challenges and ideate possible solutions, and share and disseminate existing knowledge and best practices. Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and workshops with ECIs and mentors in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Latin America who are part of the NCI’s Global Training for Research and Equity in Cancer (GlobTREC) program revealed many barriers and facilitators that ECIs encounter through different phases of career advancement. The CoP will provide a forum for bi-directional learning, sharing of ideas, offering peer-to-peer mentorship, and opportunities for capacity building.
This session will introduce and launch the CoP to Support Career Advancement in Cancer Research in LMICs. Specifically, the session will:
1. Highlight the key findings from the KIIs and workshops.
2. Introduce and iterate on the objectives of the global CoP for ECIs
3. Explore areas of interest and opportunities to advance the objectives of CoP for ECIs