PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This renewal application seeks funding to continue the highly successful Cancer Therapeutics Training (CT2) Program at the Moores Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego. About 40% of Americans will develop cancer in their lifetime. More than 600,000 fall to cancer each year. The mission of the CT2 program is to train PhD and MD-physician-scientists who will become the next generation of leaders in the field of cancer drug and therapeutics in each of the major steps required for successful translation of laboratory- based discoveries into safe and effective therapeutic agents. The CT2 training is designed to position trainees to play key leadership roles in the field of oncology therapeutics. The 31 faculty of the CT2 Program are all Members of the Cancer Center and are appointed in 11 departments in the School of Medicine, the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences or the general campus. Each faculty preceptor is an accomplished investigator and educator with a history of training superb postdoctoral fellows. Each has substantial peer-reviewed cancer or cancer-related research funding. All of the participating faculty are conducting translational research and have been selected because of their interest in new cancer therapeutics. This program is extensively integrated with other activities of the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center and the extensive biotech/pharma industry in San Diego. The goal is to recruit and retain 8 MD and PhD scientists in this two-year program that will position them for careers in the development of new cancer drugs or the diagnostics needed to guide the use of these drugs in the era of personalized medicine. The training program components include: the completion of formal didactic teaching sessions that cover tools essential to the drug development process; the conduct of one or more steps in therapeutic development research project under the direction of a faculty preceptor; and required participation in individual development plans, including yearly attendance at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research or an equivalent national meeting. Trainees are also expected to participate in Cancer Center and Departmental seminars, research rounds, and journal clubs to expand the breadth of their understanding of cancer research and prepare formal project plans and practice or real grant applications for review by the Executive Committee. Methods are in place to ensure that all trainees are properly instructed in the principles of responsible conduct of research and scientific integrity. Trainees are recruited nationwide and special efforts are made recruit and retain exceptional candidates from groups historically underrepresented in biomedical sciences.