Abstract The Oncology Research Training Program (ORTP) has been in existence for 40 years and was developed with the primary goal of preparing physician-trainees (fellows in Adult Medical Oncology) for careers in academic medicine. The rationale for training in oncology research is four fold: (a) Cancer remains one of the leading cause of morbidity and mortality; (b) there is a need to maintain momentum that has been achieved in our fundamental understanding of carcinogenesis, genomics and immunology (c) there is a need to translate progress gained in the laboratory to the development of novel and better strategies for the diagnosis, therapies and prevention of cancer and (d) in the rapidly chaniging health care advances and economics landscape, a critical need for development of tools and policy to determine the most effective and efficient ways to deliver care and measure outcomes in the society. The five Research training themes of the Program are carefully developed to build on the past successes of training academic leaders. It melds emerging aspects of cancer biology, care and policy, is aligned with the investigative interest and expertise of 44 established, extramurally-funded program faculty members, leverages the outstanding resources of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, the Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMCCC), the medical school and other units of the University of Michigan. The research training themes are: (1) Molecular-genetic mechanisms of neoplastic transformation, aberrant signaling, and metastasis, (2) Biomarkers in cancer prevention and therapy; (3) Molecular targets of drug discovery and experimental therapuetics of cancer; (4) Immunological approaches to cancer therapy and (5) Health services research focused on delivery, outcomes, reform and value. The trainees selected for this program will first experience well-defined curriculum and training to the important concepts in the chosen research theme, and then spend 2- 3 years in the relevant laboratory and/ or clinical or health services research environment under the direct supervision of a training program faculty mentor. The trainees will develop skills in: (a) to identify important questions in oncology research (b) develop testable hypotheses that will address the pertinent questions (c) aquire the necessary technical expertise to rigorously test the hypotheses identified; (d) critically evaluate the data generated; (e) develop the necessary skills of written and oral communication to promulgate the conclusions made and (f) develop and compete of peer-reviewed grants. The trainees will have an MD or MD-PhD degree, completed residency training in Internal Medicine and a year of clinical subspecialty training in ADULT medical oncology/hematology. The ultimate goal of the program is to prepare trainees for careers in academic oncology as independent faculty members in schools of medicine at research universities.