# Career Enhancement Program

> **NIH NIH P50** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2024 · $74,640

## Abstract

Career Enhancement Program - Abstract
The long-term success of national efforts to reduce breast cancer incidence and mortality rests in part on the
ability of Breast Cancer SPORE programs to attract and build the translational research careers of talented
young faculty. Since 1992, the UNC Breast Cancer SPORE has used career development funds to promote
the breast cancer research careers of selected investigators. The SPORE Career Enhancement Program
(CEP) both recruits externally and identifies internal faculty with interest in translational breast cancer research.
The CEP then matches junior faculty with training offerings and senior mentors. We seek to enrich the field
with our efforts to recruit qualified women and underrepresented in medicine (URIM) as both participants and
mentors in the program. DRP funding for junior investigators also adds to the pool of developing translational
faculty. Over the 29 years of the program, approaches to recruitment for funding by the CEP has included a
focus on women and faculty from underrepresented-in-medicine (URIM) groups. Our success in this regard is
accelerating; during this past cycle we recruited 17 faculty of eight of whom are URIM and twelve are women.
Co-recruitment with departments across campus attracts exceptional talent to UNC and its Cancer Center. The
SPORE CEP makes available extended training for junior faculty with an interactive group of respected and
successful investigators who can influence and help build careers. The combination of an excellent talent pool
and an effective training and mentoring program has resulted in an elite cadre of breast cancer researchers
contributing to national breast cancer effort.
As noted, during the last five years, the CEP has attracted 17 participants; 12 were women and 8 were from
URIM groups. Several have already been funded by NCI or foundations. Our CEP participants’ contributions
over the programs almost 30 years include published research, funded grants, clinical trials, and collaborative
breast cancer research across the spectrum of population, basic, clinical and translational research. Over this
time, CEP program participants have become SPORE leaders. On this renewal alone are past CEP awardees,
Charles Perou (Multi-PI and co-PI of Project #3), Lisa Carey (Multi-PI and co-PI of Project #3), Melissa
Troester (co-PI of Project #1), Katie Reeder-Hayes (co-PI of Project #1), Claire Dees (co-PI on Project #4), and
Katie Hoadley (co-Investigator on Project #1, #3 and the Biostatistics & Bioinformatics Core), Gaorav Gupta
(co-PI on Project 2), and Benjamin Vincent (co-PI on Project #2).
To continue this success this UNC Breast Cancer SPORE requests $50,000 yearly to support career
development; these funds will combine with an average of $500,000 yearly in institutional funds provided for
recruitment, start- up commitments and career development. SPORE leaders will continue to identify, recruit,
and develop talented URIM and women faculty.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10935481
- **Project number:** 2P50CA058223-29A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** LISA A CAREY
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $74,640
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1997-08-05 → 2029-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10935481

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10935481, Career Enhancement Program (2P50CA058223-29A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10935481. Licensed CC0.

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