Cancer Genetics Career Development Program (CGCDP) Training History
City of Hope’s faculty has provided postdoctoral training for more than 40 years. As an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, City of Hope provides an organizational framework to stimulate interactive research between investigators, and shared facilities are developed to enhance innovative interdisciplinary research projects.
Basic programs within the City of Hope infrastructure include:
- Molecular Biology
- Molecular Carcinogenesis
- Immunology
- Virology and Gene Therapy
- Hematological Malignancy Host and Environmental Determinants of Cancer Susceptibility
- Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics
- Clinical Cancer Genetics
Each of these programs is represented among the CGCDP faculty. This well-documented history of collaboration among scientists of different disciplines assures that CGCDP trainees will have multidisciplinary didactic training and experience an integrated approach to clinical cancer genetics research.
Significance of NCCN Affiliation
City of Hope is a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), an alliance of 21 of the world's leading cancer centers located throughout the U.S. The goals of NCCN are to provide the highest quality of cancer care to the greatest number of patients, to advance the state of the art in cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment, and to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of cancer care delivery.
City of Hope is one of five member institutions participating in a new NCCN project aimed at establishing a database of patients with a new diagnosis of breast cancer. The purpose is to evaluate outcomes and patterns of breast cancer care at member institutions.
The data center of the NCCN is housed in City of Hope’s Department of Research Information Sciences. At the clinical level, there are active traineeship programs in surgical oncology, medical oncology and hematology, and hematopathology. The Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research and the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation offer the joint Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Program. This four-year program involves both didactic and hands-on experiences in biostatistics, clinical investigation, basic science and translational research. The CGCDP utilizes key elements of this K12 curriculum.