Still Growing the Cancer Workforce
Cedars-Sinai Cancer U-GROW Program Graduates Its Second Class of Aspiring Scientists
“How many of you feel like your vocabulary changed dramatically this year?” Patricia Thompson, PhD, asked a group of students gathered at Cedars-Sinai on a recent Saturday morning. “Keep that in mind as you go forward. Learn the language, and all of a sudden, you are part of the culture.”
Thompson, professor of Medicine and co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Cedars-Sinai, was addressing the second graduating class in the Undergraduates Gaining Research Opportunities for the Cancer Workforce (U-GROW) internship program. Thompson is program director of U-GROW, and at the April 27 graduation event, students shared the ways in which many things, including their vocabulary, had changed since they entered the program during the summer.
The yearlong program, a partnership between Cedars-Sinai and eight California State University (CSU) campuses, gives participants an opportunity to intern with Cedars-Sinai Cancer investigators for nine weeks during the summer, conducting research and presenting their work during a scientific poster session. During the school year, they attend scientific communication workshops and receive guidance on applying to graduate and professional schools.
“For once I feel that I belong to a community,” said Agatha Santos, a CSU, Northridge, graduate now pursuing her master’s in public health. “I am working right now on a breast cancer pilot study with the Asian American population, which perfectly aligns with my interests, and if it wasn't for you, Dr. Thompson, I wouldn't have the confidence and the lingo to have that internship.”
Diana Martinez, a CSU, Los Angeles, graduate who interned with Thompson, was accepted into the master’s in public health program at the University of California, Berkeley, and awarded a fellowship that will fund her first year.
“I was really put to work and thrown into the water,” Martinez said, “but I really do appreciate it because it’s a realistic experience of what to expect when you’re in this field.”
Some of the participants, including Yzabella Nardo and Christina Gloady, were excited to contribute something meaningful to cancer research.
“My project was on medication delivery systems that release medication or chemotherapy directly into metastatic breast cancer cells to inhibit their growth,” said Gloady, a graduate of Cal Poly Pomona (California State Polytechnic University, Pomona) now applying to physician assistant programs. “I helped prove that this delivery system is more efficient and effective than other therapies currently on the market.”
The participants also expressed gratitude for the support of their peers in the program.
“Following the program into my first semester of organic chemistry, the class that everyone had hailed as the ruiner of dreams, when times got hard, I thought back to my peers of Cohort 2 and how many of them had already overcome the challenges that I was currently facing,” said Tyler Morris, a CSU, Long Beach, student. “It gave me the confidence to push through and succeed.”
Many of the students have entered or been accepted to graduate programs. And all have added to their academic and professional community—and their scientific vocabulary.
The program is funded by Cedars-Sinai Cancer and the Concern Foundation, and supported by Darrah Goo Kuratani, PhD, MPH, senior research project advisor, Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination.
Other U-GROW program faculty include Stephen Freedland, MD, the Warschaw, Robertson, Law Families Chair in Prostate Cancer at Cedars-Sinai and associate director for Training and Education at Cedars-Sinai Cancer; Katherine Isokawa, PhD, visiting scholar at Cedars-Sinai; Annalyn Valdez-Dadia, DrPH, assistant professor of Human Services at CSU, Dominguez Hills; and Sherry Kidd, U-GROW internship coordinator.
“Developing and promoting the next generation of cancer researchers is one of our core missions,” said Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD, the PHASE ONE Foundation Distinguished Chair and director of the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute. “Among the multiple programs we have in the cancer center, U-GROW is one of our most important because it not only fulfills this mission, but does so for students who did not have as many such opportunities in the past. It is very gratifying for all of us to see this happen.”
U-GROW has already selected CSU students for Cohort 3, beginning June 2024. The program will begin accepting applications for Cohort 4 on Nov. 1. Learn more about internship opportunities at Cedars-Sinai.
Cohort 2 (2023-2024) U-GROW scholars and mentors include:
- Iluoghene Akene, mentored by Christie Jeon, ScD
- Julianna Argueta, mentored by Jane Figueiredo, PhD
- Kathleen Bascos, mentored by Loraine Escobedo, PhD, MPH, and Ghecemy Lopez, DSW, MAEd
- Benito Cermeno, mentored by Stephen Shiao, MD, PhD, and Julie Jang, MD, PhD
- Naeomi Chin, mentored by Paul Pharoah, PhD
- Christina Gloady, mentored by Lali Medina-Kauwe, PhD
- Anakaren Gonzalez, mentored by Stephen Freedland, MD
- Liana Gutierrez, mentored by Gillian Gresham, PhD
- Savanna Monson, mentored by Jun Gong, MD
- Diana Martinez, mentored by Patricia Thompson, PhD
- Tyler Morris, mentored by Sarah Salvy, PhD
- Yzabella Nardo, mentored by Celina Shirazipour, PhD
- Horacio Palma, mentored by Geetanjali Datta, PhD, and Vanessa Torres, PhD
- Kenneth Perez, mentored by Margaret Liang, MD
- Agatha Santos, mentored by Kate Lawrenson, PhD
Follow Cedars-Sinai Academic Medicine on X for more on the latest basic science and clinical research from Cedars-Sinai.