# Research Education Core

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO · 2024 · $156,560

## Abstract

RESEARCH EDUCATION CORE – ABSTRACT 
The overall objective of the Chicago Cancer Health Collaborative (ChicagoCHeC) Research 
Education Core (REC) is to enhance pathways for students to engage in cancer research by 
fostering meaningful research, education, and community engaged experiences which link 
faculty and students of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Northeastern Illinois 
University (NEIU), and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern 
University (NU-LCC). For this Core, we define students as high school through postdoctoral 
fellows. Between 2016 – 2019, the REC launched research education experiences bringing 
together students across the Chicagoland area, developed curricula introducing students to 
the science of cancer disparities, and built robust networks with high school and local 
community college students to encourage their entry into REC programs. In that period, the 
REC provided structured summer research education experiences through the ChicagoCHeC 
Research Fellows (CHeC Fellows) Program to 65 students from all backgrounds. The CHeC 
Fellows Program is an intensive 8-week summer program that introduces students to a 
breadth of cancer health disparities research topics and to the work of leading cancer 
researchers, provides hands-on engagement with community partners, and builds 
professional skills as a foundation for lifelong learning. In this renewal, we seek to sustain the 
successes of the CHeC Fellows Program and add programming to further student entry into 
cancer research trajectories and further meet the needs of students within ChicagoCHeC 
sponsored Projects. Thus, the CHeC Fellows Program will be complemented by development 
of new career readiness and career development supports, and an expansion of 
ChicagoCHeC Laboratory Experiences and Programs (LEaP), which matches students, 
including graduates of the CHeC Fellows Program, to intensive, one-on-one mentored 
immersion experiences in cancer research laboratories. An exceptional tri-institutional team of 
cancer research faculty has been assembled to lead the REC in achieving its specific aims, 
which are to: (1) develop curriculum and support professional development opportunities to 
increase Chicago area undergraduate interest and readiness in entering cancer research 
career pathways; (2) refine and sustain the CHeC Fellows and LEaP Programs for 
undergraduate students recruited from NEIU, UIC, NU, and City Colleges of Chicago; (3) link 
students (undergraduates, graduate/medical students and postdoctoral fellows) to mentored 
cancer research experiences within ChicagoCHeC Projects and provide career development 
support; and (4) implement continuous tracking and program evaluation. Initiatives of the 
ChicagoCHeC REC will directly introduce students to cancer research and enhance their 
capacity to seek out opportunities that will enable them to pursue meaningful, highly effective 
careers in this field.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10919811
- **Project number:** 5U54CA202997-10
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** PAUL J GRIPPO
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $156,560
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2015-09-24 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10919811

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10919811, Research Education Core (5U54CA202997-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10919811. Licensed CC0.

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