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A message from the Moores Cancer Center Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

We need your help to make Moores Cancer Center even better! By participating in our inaugural MCC Climate Survey that is launching on April 29th! We are honored to serve everyone at MCC, and your input is crucial in understanding our unique community's needs and fostering a culture of belonging. We are committed to  providing a comprehensive summary of the results within 4 months, and share an  outline of the next steps as we work together to create a more inclusive environment for us and about us!

Save the date: 4/29! You will receive a unique link in your email inbox sent by our 3rd party CLG.

Recent weeks at Moores have been dynamic, emphasizing its dedication to cancer research and care excellence. Cutting-edge topics have been explored, such as single-cell analysis and immunotherapy, through distinguished lectures. In addition, Moores Members engaged in over 60 sessions at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Conference. Moores is charting a new path, reimagining cancer prevention, detection, and treatment to improve the well-being of its catchment area and beyond.

In 2020, Debra Melikian lost her son Merak to a rare type of GIST, known as SDH-deficient GIST. This tragedy came just a short time after she lost her husband to a paraganglioma, a rare tumor that became cancerous. Since then, Debra has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of GIST and to raise funds for GIST research led by Moores Member, Dr. Jason Sicklick.

Moores Member Dr. McKay received the Christopher G. Wood Rising Star Award, which recognizes talented young kidney cancer experts, in honor of the late Kidney Cancer Association Board Chair, Dr. Christopher G. Wood.

Friday, May 17, 2024 | 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Sanford Burnham Prebys Fishman Auditorium

This 1-day event will showcase expert scientists who are making impactful contributions to the field of pancreatic cancer research, including tumorigenesis, tumor progression, and the discovery of novel therapeutic paradigms, such as immunomodulation and metabolic targeting. The event will feature keynote speaker Rosalie C. Sears, PhD, Co-Director of the Brenden-Colson Center for Pancreatic Care and Krista L. Lake Chair in Cancer Research at Oregon Health & Science University. Registration and abstract submission close on May 3, 2024.

April 23, 2024 | 12:00 p.m. 

Leichtag Biomedical Research Building Room 107 

May 1, 2024 | 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Moores Comer Commons

Mentors for this session will be Sujan Shrestam PhD, Alfredo Molinolo, MD, PhD, and Lourdes Martinez, PhD. All students, postdocs, and junior faculty are welcome to attend.

May 9, 2024 | 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Zoom

May 10, 2024 | 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.

Comer Commons

May 15, 2024 | 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.

Comer Commons

May 20, 2024 | 8:30 a.m to 5:30 p.m ET

Virtual and In-person, Washington, D.C.

Moores had the pleasure of hosting AACR GSITA program participants, promising young scientists from nine countries (i.e., Argentina, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Jordan, Malaysia, and South Africa), following their participation at the AACR Annual Meeting 2024.

The GSITA participants took a lab tour and engaged in a career development panel and discussion at Moores, after receiving a welcome from the new Director, Dr. Diane Simeone. The GSITA participants then presented their research posters, demonstrating their remarkable, cutting-edge research. Moores Members had the opportunity to interact with these GSITA participants, gaining understanding of their innovative research and building connections during the networking reception. The visit highlighted the importance of global collaboration in advancing cancer research and treatment.

This monthly series will (1) address the challenges of evaluating complicated answers from large language models (LLMs) and (2) explore innovative solutions and strategies to automate agent evaluation to keep pace with AI advancements. Join on May 2, 2024 for “Toward Conversational Diagnostic AI: Challenges in Evaluating AMIE, an AI Agent for Diagnostic Dialog,” presented by Anil Palepu of Google Research, and on June 6, 2024 for “Who Judges the Robot Judges?”, presented by Dexter Pratt of UC San Diego.

An NCI Program Director will (1) explain how diversity-focused awards can support the recruitment, retention, and advancement of diverse investigators and (2) discuss NIH diversity supplements and fellowships. In addition, a panel of PI-scholar dyads will share their success stories. 

This week, JAGS launched its Diversity in Research on Aging Series, which (1) examines diversity in research with regard to age, race, and ethnicity of research participants and (2) seeks to assess and improve representation, promote collaboration, and stimulate discussions on the importance of diversity in healthcare research and clinical practice. JAGS editors encourage those interested in contributing to the series to contact Erin Obrusniak at eobrusniak@americangeriatrics.org.

ARPA-H is now accepting submissions to its four Mission Office-specific ISOs, which can enhance Moore’s ability to support initiatives that align with its mission and strategic plan. The four ISOs are the following:

For questions, visit https://solutions.arpa-h.gov/Ask-A-Question/.

The NIH Office of Research on Women's Health and participating NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices invite institutional career development award applications for BIRCWH Career Development Programs, which will support mentored research career development of junior faculty members (i.e., BIRCWH Scholars), who (1) have recently completed clinical training or postdoctoral fellowships and (2) will be engaged in interdisciplinary basic, translational, data science, behavioral, clinical, and/or health services research relevant to the health of women and, where appropriate, the use of both sexes to better understand the influence of sex as a biological variable on health and disease.

Deadline: May 20, 2024

P50 SPORE grants support state-of-the-art investigator-initiated translational research that contribute to improved prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of an organ-specific cancer or a highly related group of cancers. 

Next Deadline: May 25, 2024 (Standard NIH Due Dates Apply)

JAMA Open Network

Intercollaborative

Rana McKay, MD (Solid Tumor Therapeutics), Meghana Pagadala, PhD (Structural and Functional Genomics), Kripa Guram, PhD (Cancer Control Program), Tyler Seibert, MD, PhD (Structural and Functional Genomics), Hannah Carter, PhD, MEng (Structural and Functional Genomics), Brent Rose, MD (Solid Tumor Therapeutics)

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

Melody K. Schiaffino, PhD, MPH (Cancer Control Program)

ACS Nano

Yingxiao Wang, PhD (Cancer Biology and Signaling)

Join us on Thursday, 4/25 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. in Room 2007 at MCC to hear our youth hosts explore more amazing scientific concepts with experts in their fields. Next up? Dr. Matt Hangauer on The Science of Cancer Treatment, and Dr. Jason Sicklick on The Science of Precision Medicine. 

This podcast is led by youth from the Teen Center at the Jackie Robinson Family YMCA and supported by Cloudcast Media and Moores Cancer Center.

On Thursday, April 18, 2024, COE hosted the first Cervical Cancer Quality Improvement Collaborative session of the year. Sixty-nine individuals registered, and 37 attended. The session provided (1) updates on NCI's new SHIP trial, which targets HPV self-testing and (2) resources for screening and care from the Every Woman Counts Program. Mark your calendars for our next session on July 18, 2024.

Department of Research Administration

3855 Health Sciences Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037

moorescancercenter.ucsd.edu

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