Mentoring future Kenyan oncology researchers

Abstract

Medical Scientists drawn from the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) Consortium collaborated with the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Kisumu to host the first United States, National Cancer Institue (NCI) sponsored oncology focused grant writing workshop. The goal of this work shop was to mentor health care researchers and to prioritize research topics that could lead to improved cancer care and survival for the citizens of Kenya. The spectrum of cancer research included prevention, early detection and screening as well as palliative care. Twenty mentees out of 34 applicants were selected through a competitive process in which submitted applications were reviewed based on research interests, how those interests could improve cancer care and outcomes, and how this training would facilitate their careers in medical research. Ideas for research proposals were stimulated by a series of Provocative Questions given to applicants prior to the meeting (Appendix 1). Kenya, like much of the developing world, is rapidly undergoing an ‘epidemiologic transition’ from a health scene dominated by infectious diseases to one in which the chronic diseases such as cancer are becoming major causes of death and disability. Under these circum stances, applying science to the management and control of cancer has become as relevant to Kenya as it is in the United States and other countries. Cancer research in Kenya, whose population is the most genetically diverse in the world [1], will catalyze the discovery of new genes of importance in the fight against cancer, new genomic predictors of cancer, and new genetic variants that pre dict response to therapy. AMPATH Oncology Institute (AOI) activities aim to directly contribute to advances in cancer care and accelerate discoveries in the biology and treatment of cancer in Kenya. One of the most impor tant components of this mission is training Kenyan scientists and strengthening the collaborative research environment.