ABSTRACT This is a competing renewal of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Oncology K12. The UNC K12 continues to meet an unmet need at UNC by providing a cancer-specific training and mentoring program for junior faculty in multiple departments and divisions within the UNC School of Medicine. These departments and divisions include: Divisions of Adult Oncology, Hematology, and Surgical Oncology, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, as well as the Departments of Radiation Oncology, Pathology and Lab Medicine, and Urology. The UNC K12 is the only cancer-specific junior faculty training program at the University. The primary goal of the UNC K12 is to develop a successful, rigorously trained cadre of researchers focused on patient-oriented research in three main focus areas including translational research, clinical trials research, and health services research. The UNC K12 offers several unique aspects of training and mentoring including vertical integration with other translational training grants (allowing for mentoring opportunities), communication and skills development (both scientific and lay), and didactic and experiential training on translational or patient-oriented research. The program will continue to be led by Dr. William Kim, Professor of Medicine, Genetics, and Pharmacology. He will be assisted by Associate Director (AD), Dr. Lisa Carey and Assistant Director (aD), Dr. Katie Reeder-Hayes who bring expertise in clinical trials and outcomes research respectively. The Internal Advisory Board (IAB) and External Advisory Board (EAB) members have been invaluable in guiding the UNC K12 over the past funding period and will continue to provide significant additional experience and expertise in the development, administration, and evaluation of junior faculty training programs. The UNC K12 will admit 2 junior faculty scholars per cohort year, for a total of 4 scholars at a time. Each scholar will receive 2 years of support. During the last funding period we were able to fund 12 scholars (16% of which were URI in medicine) whose records and accomplishments are detailed in the progress report but include the promotion of scholars to Associate Professor, high impact publications, as well as several NCI K08 awards and other significant funding. Major changes from our last renewal include the recruitment of Dr. Carey and Dr. Reeder-Hayes as AD and aD respectively, the addition of Dr. Sandra Wong to the EAB to give guidance on unique challenges faced by surgeon-scientists as well as health services research, and finally, the pairing of a patient advocate with each scholar (PAP Program) to enhance the scholar's ability to communicate with non- scientific audiences as well as to give input into research projects. The UNC K12 has a track record of success, serves an unmet need for cancer-specific training, and will continue to serve as a nexus for the development of patient-oriented junior faculty researchers at UNC.