# Career Enhancement Program

> **NIH NIH P50** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2024 · $71,351

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY – CAREER ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM (CEP)
 Despite recent gains, driven in part by Hillman Cancer Center (HCC) HN SPORE-funded research,
translational research in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) lags that of many other
malignancies. The HCC HN SPORE is uniquely positioned to build upon its past successes and foster the next
generation of translational scientists studying HNSCC. The Career Enhancement Program (CEP) of the HCC
HN SPORE has been designed to attract, educate and mentor a new, diverse group of scientists committed to
understanding and eradicating HNSCC. HCC and the University of Pittsburgh have committed substantial
funding and infrastructure to this endeavor, with institutional matching to double the number of CEP awards
given annually. Moreover, the HCC HN SPORE is committed to diversity and has recently established
collaborations with Johns Hopkins, Howard University, Emory University and Meharry Medical College to
increase the participation of under-represented minorities in the HCC HN SPORE CEP and, indeed, through
the entirety of the program. In addition, we have appointed Dr. Tullia Bruno, as Co-Director of the CEP. She is
a previous CEP awardee, member of the HCC Women’s Task Force (an initiative launched by Dr. Ferris in late
2017, which addresses gender issues among the female faculty at the Cancer Center) and co-leader of the
Pittsburgh Chapter of the Association for Women in Science, to assist in increasing our number of female
applicants and awardees.
 Potential CEP awardees will be new to the study of HNSCC, either because they are junior faculty who are
establishing their careers; established investigators studying other scientific questions who wish to transition to
HNSCC; or clinical investigators well versed in the design and performance of clinical trials who wish to
broaden their translation research experience. The selection process for these awards are rigorous and include
all aspects of HNSCC research. Once awarded, the CEP grantee will meet regularly with a more established
HNSCC investigator with an established record of successful mentorship as well as a mentoring team. They
will be encouraged to participate in courses in clinical and translational research and participate in mock study
sections where their extramural funding applications will be scored by their mentoring team. The goal of this
program is to develop CEP awardees research into larger projects as well as diverse next generation of
HNSCC researchers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10923912
- **Project number:** 5P50CA097190-18
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** CHRISTOPHER J. BAKKENIST
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $71,351
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2004-07-01 → 2027-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10923912

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10923912, Career Enhancement Program (5P50CA097190-18). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10923912. Licensed CC0.

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