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The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded a four-year grant to Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center to establish the Columbia Cancer Training Program for Resident-Investigators (CAPRI). The new program will train residents from a variety of medical disciplines at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center to conduct high-impact, patient-centered cancer research.

“This is an amazing achievement that speaks to our strengths in both teaching and research, and to our commitment to cancer care,” said Dr. Gary Schwartz, chief of hematology/oncology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and co-director of the training program. “CAPRI will provide residents the chance to conduct translational research in cancer medicine, and help us identify the future leaders in cancer medicine.”

Columbia University is the sole awardee of this training grant this year, which will support two medical residents for one to two years. Residents will be selected from 13 residency programs at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, including dermatology, medicine, neurosurgery, obstetrics/gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery, pathology, pediatrics, psychiatry, radiology, radiation oncology, surgery and urology. The CAPRI program will give residents the advanced skills necessary to conduct clinical and translational cancer research in their respective fields, training them to become physician-scientists in cancer medicine.

“This is a unique opportunity for our residents to get bitten by the research bug and pursue academic research in addition to their clinical training,” said Dr. Katherine Crew, a breast oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, and co-director of the program.

Selected residents will be paired with a research mentor and a clinical mentor.

“By involving more physicians in research, we can gain more insight into developing better treatments and delivering better care for patients,” said Dr. Schwartz.

Dr. Gary Schwartz is a professor of oncology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and is deputy director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia.

Dr. Katherine Crew is an associate professor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of the Clinical Breast Cancer Prevention Program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia.