The Story Behind the Photo

MENTORING TALENT TO SPEED DISCOVERY TOWARD CURE:
F. M. KIRBY FOUNDATION FUNDS TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH
“The F. M. Kirby Foundation rescued our fellowship program!”—Edmund Lattime, PhD, Associate Director for Education and Training and Deputy Director of CINJ. When NCI funding of the fellowship program ended as a result of federal budget cutbacks in 2008, the Kirby Foundation stepped in with support providing young investigators an opportunity to be mentored by internationally recognized physician scientists at CINJ.

If cancer research and treatment are to move forward, current PhDs and MDs must have opportunities to transition into patient care, teach in medical schools and initiate independent research that is worthy of federal grant support. Post-doctoral fellowships are the culmination of 15 years of education that is required as a bridge for cancer physicians and researchers to establish a career and bring their talent to the field. Without a fellowship program like this at CINJ, it is likely that the number of young cancer investigators in NJ (where there is already a shortage of oncologists) will diminish.

CINJ’s Fellowship Program focuses on “translational research,” pairing the PhD basic cancer researcher who is discovering new biological factors in the cause or progression of cancer with the MD who is treating patients with the most advanced protocols available. The goal is to enhance the skills of each to achieve better outcomes for the patient. How does this work? Researchers understand how their discoveries are targeted to effect treatment, and physicians understand how the latest research improves treatment. By working together closely through constant communication and feedback, the process of delivering scientific discovery to the patient with more advanced treatment occurs more quickly and effectively.

Anne Strohecker, PhD, and Sharad Goyal, MD, current fellows in this program, model this exquisite interplay between lab and clinic. Both believe that their training in basic science and clinical science is being enhanced by understanding how the two specialties can work together. Anne is learning how her work as a basic scientist on autophagy (programmed cell death) can be translated into targeted treatments for lung cancer. Sharad is learning how research in radiation oncology can advance his skills and how his understanding of problems encountered as a physician can feed back to basic research to help find a solution. Anne is particularly impressed that the seminar series allows fellows the opportunity to interact with some of the best minds in oncology. Sharad is struck by the collaborative nature of translational research, which was not prevalent in his earlier medical professional training.

As post-docs, these oncologists have many years of education behind them already and are in transition toward careers in academic research and practice. This program offers them the opportunity to be mentored by outstanding cancer researchers that prepare them in an emerging field, translational research. As both Anne and Sharad state, “it is a period of protected research time.”

Anne is mentored by Eileen White, PhD, Associate Director of Basic Science and Program Director of Molecular Mechanisms of Tumor Growth at CINJ. Sharad is mentored by Bruce Haffty, MD, Director of Radiation Oncology. CINJ has 20 senior researchers dedicated to mentorship in this program.


Featured in the photo: Edmund Lattime, PhD, Associate Director of Education and Training, mentors F. M. Kirby Foundation Translational Research Fellows Anne Strohecker, PhD, and Sharad Goyal, MD.