By Hinde Kast

Courtesy of USC

With scientists facing increasingly stiff competition for federal research dollars, Institutional Research Grants (IRG), funded by the American Cancer Society (ACS), provide a critical leg up for junior faculty seeking to launch their independent careers in cancer research. The grants help new investigators accumulate the substantial preliminary data needed to secure long-term stable research funding.

Thanks to a continuing ACS IRG, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center will be able to further one of its key missions — fostering the career evolution of the next generation of cancer researchers. Myles Cockburn, PhD, co-leader of the USC Norris Cancer Control Research Program, and Caryn Lerman, PhD, director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, oversee the grant, which supports cancer research by faculty at the rank of Instructor or Assistant Professor who have not yet received national funding.

“This continuing partnership between USC Norris and the American Cancer Society recognizes the critical importance of targeting resources to the best and brightest of our new scientists, ensuring that the future of innovative cancer research gets a jump start which can then be maintained across successful careers directed at tackling cancer disparities and reducing the cancer burden,” said Dr. Myles Cockburn, who is a professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “This partnership puts our future in good hands!” (…Read More)