Pre-doctoral applicants are evaluated on the basis of their academic record, work experience, references, and goal statements. Although applicants do not need any formal prior experience in cancer prevention and control, preference is given to applicants who demonstrate that their educational goals and career plans are consistent with the program’s training objectives.

Pre-doctoral applicants interested in applying to the training program must be enrolled in one of the following University of Washington PhD programs:

• PhD in Biobehavioral Nursing
• PhD in Epidemiology
• PhD in Health Services
• PhD in Nutritional Sciences
• PhD in Pharmacy (Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research & Policy Program)
• PhD in Public Health Genetics
• PhD in Social Welfare

PLEASE NOTE: Applicants that do not have their dissertation research with participating program faculty member(s) may be required to provide additional research assistance to the program mentor(s) outside of their dissertation work.

Trainees typically apply during the summer and are appointed on September 16^th for a 1-year term, renewable contingent on progress in the program and funding availability.

Application Procedures

Applicants should prepare the following items and upload them to the application form here.

• Curriculum Vitae
• One letter of reference/evaluation: Recommender should use their own professional stationery and can email the letter directly to the Program Coordinator at hservphd@uw.edu . Letters may be addressed to the Program Director or the Steering Committee.
• A member of the Steering Committee must serve as your primary mentor or mentor of record for this grant.  Other mentors at the University of Washington or Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center will be considered, depending on your interests and research plan. You will be asked to share your faculty mentor, and the research projects you hope to work on with them. Please see the faculty section for links to bios and contact information. If you experience any problems contacting a faculty member, please contact hservphd@uw.edu for assistance.
• Unofficial Transcript
• Goal Statement about your research interests in cancer prevention and control, career goals, and how the fellowship would contribute to those goals. Please include papers you plan to submit each year, an independent research plan as well as how to integrate with your mentor’s research, and post-training plans.
• An interview with the Program Director, Peggy Hannon (peggyh@uw.edu), is required. This can be arranged by contacting her directly. 

Applicants to the post-doctoral training program should have an MD, PhD, or comparable doctoral degree from an accredited domestic or foreign institution. Preference is given to applicants with prior training or work experience in cancer prevention and control, although applicants without such training or experience will be considered provided they are able to demonstrate that their educational goals and career plans are consistent with the program’s training objectives.

Application Materials:

• Application
• Curriculum Vitae
• One letter of reference/evaluation: Recommenders should use their own professional stationery and can email the letter directly to the Program Administrator (hservphd@uw.edu). Letters may be addressed to the Program Director or the Steering Committee.
• A member of the Steering Committee must serve as your primary mentor or mentor of record for this grant. Other mentors at the University of Washington or Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center will be considered, depending on your interests and research plan. You will be asked to share your faculty mentor, and the research projects you hope to work on with them. Please see the faculty section for links to bios and contact information. If you experience any problems contacting a faculty member, please contact hservphd@uw.edu for assistance.
• Transcripts and other records of academic and professional training.
• Goal Statement about your research interests in cancer prevention and control, career goals, and how the fellowship would contribute to those goals.
• Detailed 2-year plan outlining research and publishing goals. Please include papers you plan to submit each year, an independent research plan as well as how to integrate with your mentor’s research, and post-training plans.
• An interview with the Program Director, Peggy Hannon (peggyh@uw.edu), is required. This can be arranged by contacting her directly

The training grant provides 1-2 years of financial support for selected students. Trainees receive a monthly stipend, tuition support, and health insurance coverage. All stipend amounts are determined and updated annually by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Travel support is also provided for students to conduct research and attend at least 1 national or regional addiction conference per year.

Additionally, trainees with children are eligible for childcare support (currently $3,000/year restrictions apply).

Pre-doctoral

• Ashlyn Tom, Health Services
  Mentors: Drs. Wendy Barringon and Casey Lion

Ashlyn’s dissertation research focuses on utilizing mixed methods and quasi-experimental study designs to evaluate the impact of patient navigation on patient outcomes.

• Sanithia Parker, Nursing
  Mentors: Dr. Wendy Barrinton

Sanithia’s research focus is advancing health equity for Black and African American communities through chronic disease prevention.

Post-doctoral

• Darya Moosavi, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
  Mentors: Drs. Johanna Lampe and Marion Neuhouser

Darya’s research is focused on integrating dietary and biomarker data to shed light on the etiology and survival of chronic diseases, with a focus on cancer.

• Karl Cristie F. Figuracion, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
  Mentors: Dr. Heather Greenlee

Karl Cristie’s research interest is to develop personalized and equitable multilevel interventions that will bridge rural-urban disparities in health outcomes across cancer survivors.

Alumni

The training program draws on faculty from throughout the University and its affiliated institutions. General coordination of the training program is the responsibility of the Biobehavioral and Outcomes Advisory Committee listed below.

Program Director

Peggy Hannon, PhD, MPH
Department of Health Systems and Population Health, UW
peggyh@u.washington.edu

Steering Committee

Wendy Barrington, PhD
Department of Psychosocial & Community Health Nursing, UW
wendybar@u.washington.edu

Johanna Lampe
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
jlampe@fhcrc.org

Hendrika Meischke, PhD, MPH
Department of Health Systems and Population Health, UW
hendrika@u.washington.edu

Program Faculty

Scott Baker, MD,MS
Department of Pediatrics, UW
ksbaker@fredhuthc.org

Barbara Baquero, PhD
Department of Health Systems and Population Health, UW
bbaquero@uw.edu

Josh Carlson, PhD
Department of Pharmacy, UW
carlsojj@uw.edu

Eric Chow, MD
Departments of Pediatrics, UW
ericchow@u.washington.edu

Ruth Etzioni, PhD
Departments of Biostatistics/Health Services, UW
retzioni@fredhutch.org

Heather Greenlee, ND, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
hgreenlee@fredhutch.org

Jamiee Heffner, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
jheffner@fredhutch.org

Sarah Knerr, PhD
Department of Health Systems and Population Health, UW
saknerr@uw.edu

Stephanie Lee, MD, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
sjlee@fredhutch.org

Frances Lewis, PhD
School of Nursing, UW
fmlewis@uw.edu

Jason Mendoza, MD, MPH
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
jmendoza@fredhutch.org

Marian Neuhouser PhD, RD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
mneuhous@fredhutch.org

India Ornelas PhD
Department of Health Services, UW
iornelas@uw.edu

Scott Ramsey, MD, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
sramsey@fhcrc.org

Kerryn Reding, PhD, MPH
Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems, UW
kreding@u.washington.edu

Steve Schwartz, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
sschwart@fredhutch.org

Jean Yi, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
jyi@fredhutch.org

Expectations

All trainees are expected to acquire a wide range of experience in basic biobehavioral research, in the delivery of cancer prevention and control interventions, and in evaluation of outcomes. These include the following skills:

• Grant preparation, including literature review and critique
• Coordinate piece of existing project
• Present findings at scientific meetings and to lay audience
• Write articles for peer reviewed literature
• Coordinate and run meetings of scientific investigators, including preparation of agenda and minutes
• Learn new body of material from related or unrelated fields
• Patient recruitment strategies including monitoring and promotional materials for patient recruitment
• Design an intervention including preparation of communication materials
• Budgeting, human subjects, internal peer review process (to learn external review process)
• Prepare abstracts for submission to meetings

These skills will be obtained by trainees joining funded research projects as participating investigators or may develop ancillary studies to these projects using grant funds provided by this training program. The currently funded research of program faculty is listed below. In addition, trainees will have the opportunity to use data from completed studies to conduct secondary data analyses. Because many intervention studies in biobehavioral cancer prevention and control have been completed and current funded ones often take 3-15 years to complete, the opportunity to conduct secondary analyses is important. Through their coursework, in particular participation in the seminars offered through the Biobehavioral and Outcomes Affinity groups at the FHCRC, trainees will develop skills to conduct independent research, most often through an ancillary study to a funded research project.

We expect post-doctoral fellows to spend the majority of their training participating in research with program faculty, including during the first year in which they will be taking coursework specifically related to biobehavioral cancer prevention and control (the 4 required courses). Those who elect to earn the MPH are expected to be involved at least half time in research and half-time in coursework and thus electives will be limited to only those required for the degree or to fill significant gaps in previous training. For trainees in the MPH, the topic of the master’s thesis must be related to biobehavioral research and interventions, health communications, or outcomes related to cancer prevention and control.

Research Sites

Participation in research is a major element as well as a requirement of the training program with opportunities available at the following sites:

Health Promotion Research Center (HPRC)

The HPRC, located at the University of Washington, is one of 23 dedicated prevention research centers in the United States. The center is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through their Prevention Research Center Program. Studies carried out by the Center through community partnerships develop and test methods for older adults to improve their health, well-being, and level of function. HPRC’s many community partners include: Spokane County Health Department, African American Elder’s Project Planning Partnership Group, Northwest Geriatric Education Center, Washington State Department of Health’s Office of Health Promotion, Seattle Partners for Healthy Communities, Good Samaritan Community Healthcare, the Senior Wellness Project, Senior Services of Seattle/King County, City of Seattle Division of Aging and Disability Services, Asian Counseling and Referral Services.

Center for Cost and Outcomes Research (CCOR)

CCOR brings together researchers to conduct cost-effectiveness and outcomes research studies that are enhanced by the collaboration of experts from multiple disciplines, including the clinical specialties, biostatistics, economics, epidemiology, health behavior, health status measurement and health services. CCOR emphasizes:

• Interdisciplinary research
• Research in which the cost of a health care intervention, as well as its outcome, is important
• Studies to improve the definition and measurement of health outcomes
• The evaluation of alternative approaches to treatment, prevention, health promotion, and new technology
• Evaluation of different organizational arrangements for delivering health services

In addition, CCOR’s research includes studies of applications of the social and behavioral sciences to find more effective ways to change the behavior of providers, patients and/or populations. CCOR offers researchers access to co-investigators from a broad range of disciplines. The Center facilitates access to large databases supported by programming expertise and software tools. It also provides support for economic analyses and survey research. Expertise is available in the measurement of quality of life, health status, health outcomes and patient and provider satisfaction. Finally, the Center provides access to research opportunities for fellows, residents and students.

Center for Disability Policy and Research (CDPR)

The Center for Disability Policy and Research shapes disability policy and service delivery. We conduct policy analyses of health and human services designed to prevent and minimize impact of disabling conditions.

CDPR integrates and coordinates existing services and assures access to high quality health services for people with disabilities. The CDPR conducts research on the disablement process and disabling conditions, the health needs of people with disabilities, the personal, and the delivery of health and human services to people with disabilities and their families.

CDPR trains practitioners, administrators, and policy-makers in disability policy and research and disseminates information concerning important disability policy and research issues.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Program (CPRP)

CPRP conducts research on community-level health interventions, including behavior change and proven methods of early detection and treatment to lower cancer incidence. Members of the faculty conduct epidemiologic research to find new environmental factors that cause or contribute to common cancers and to test whether removal of such factors from the environment will prevent cancer in free-living individuals. Most recently, CPRP has added a further element with etiologic studies and intervention studies aimed at elucidating gene-environment interventions and exploring intermediate metabolism and markers in controlled intensive intervention studies.

Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA)

The SCCA is a collaboration between the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the University of Washington, and Seattle Childrens. A major focus of the SCCA is to transfer new diagnostic and treatment techniques more rapidly from research settings to the community, advancing the standard of care available throughout the Pacific Northwest. The inpatient units at SCCA consist of a 38-bed pediatric hematology/oncology unit at Children’s, and three adult hematology/oncology units at UW Medical Center totaling 86 beds. In addition to the new inpatient units, both Children’s and UW Medical Center have newly constructed state-of-the-art outpatient clinic space for hematology/oncology patients. In addition to hospital-based services, a comprehensive array of outpatient services will be available at the Alliance’s unique, multidisciplinary ambulatory clinic, which is under construction on the Hutchinson Center’s Lake Union campus near downtown Seattle.

Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health (CEEH)

CEEH researchers study the way that genetic and environmental factors combine to influence susceptibility to diseases, including cancer, asthma, birth defects, and neurological disorders. The Center’s 45 core investigators hold appointments in 14 departments within the UW Schools of Medicine, Public Health, and Pharmacy. The Center’s organizational structure encourages collaboration among these distinguished scientists. Scientists of different disciplines work together in five research cores, and in six facility cores that provide specialized research tools and support. Many diseases have both genetic and environmental origins, and appropriate public health action must acknowledge the profound ethical, legal and social issues involved. The Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues (ELSI) Core within CEEH focuses on these issues by providing an infrastructure for research, education, and service. The ELSI Core also works closely with the UW program for Public Health Genetics in the Context of Law, Ethics and Policy, which provides academic training in ELSI issues and fosters multi-disciplinary research related to public health genetics.

Group Health Cooperative’S Center for Health Studies (CHS)

Founded in 1983, CHS conducts epidemiological and health services research of relevance to Group Health Cooperative (GHC) and the public domain. The Center employs 20 scientific investigators, seven research associates, three biostatisticians and a staff of approximately 225 full- and part-time individuals. CHS is experienced in the conduct of clinical trials, as evidenced by participation in several large, national trials. CHS has clinical research sites in Seattle and Redmond, Washington. CHS researchers have access to decades of data and medical records of a population of over 300,000 GHC enrollees. The Center’s Information Technology Division provides programming and analysis; designs tracking databases, automated chart review systems, data warehouses, and web sites; maintains and updates Center-wide computer equipment and technologies; and provides training for CHS staff. CHS researchers head the Cancer Research Network, an NCI-funded project to study cancer prevention and control among the nine million people enrolled in 10 member HMOs.

Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)

The SEER Program of the NCI currently collects and publishes cancer incidence and survival data from 11 population-based cancer registries, including the Seattle-Puget Sound area, and three supplemental registries covering approximately 14 percent of the U.S. population. Information on more than 2.5 million in situ and invasive cancer cases is included in the SEER database, and approximately 160,000 new cases are accessioned each year within the SEER catchment areas. The SEER registries routinely collect data on patient demographics, primary tumor site, morphology, stage at diagnosis, first course of treatment, and follow-up for vital status. The SEER Program is the only comprehensive source of population-based information in the US that includes stage of cancer at the time of diagnosis and survival rates within each stage. The Seattle registry is located at FHCRC, and access to SEER data is available to students in this training program.