Overview

Program Information

Goals of the Academy Leadership

The design for continued evolution of this Academy was developed with the intent of addressing several barriers to help Early Career Investigators (ECIs) work smarter – not harder, appreciate and experience the value of ‘team-­based science,’ and find ways to value and incorporate, in real time, the ideas and energy of consumer advocates into the ovarian cancer research process. We propose to train ECIs how to communicate these new ways of conducting ovarian cancer research to their peers, including the broader ovarian cancer research community, as well as to future generations of ovarian cancer investigators, through formal leadership training. Finally, with the help of experts in program evaluation, we propose to institute methods of both trainee and program evaluation at an early stage in the development of the virtual Academy – not only to document the potential benefits of this new way of approaching investigator training, but also to generate the data necessary to continuously shape the future of this Academy into the most high impact and cost-­, time-­, and energy?efficient training program possible.

To help achieve these goals, the following aims will be implemented:

  1. Facilitate communication and collaboration among all ECIs, designated mentors, and ovarian cancer research and consumer advocacy communities.
  2. A) Refine and implement a curriculum to foster the scientific maturation of ECIs, and

    B) Refine and administer a leadership curriculum that will promote not only the professional success of ECIs, but one that also promotes ideals such as respect for and cooperation among diverse scientists and patients in an effort to forge a new culture within the ovarian cancer research community-a culture that overcomes barriers such as its small size, exclusivity, and fragmentation.
     
  3. Assess specific metrics of ECI career advancement and satisfaction to determine the success of this training program in fostering the career development of ECIs.  The data collected using both approaches will be integrated and used to continuously improve the Academy’s curriculum, and may also be useful over the longer term in determining how effective the Academy has been in overcoming existing barriers to the initiation and/or sustained commitment to a career in ovarian cancer research.

By achieving these aims, Academy ECIs will have improved their knowledge of best practices in running and funding a productive research laboratory and will have developed a roadmap for the next phase of their career.