What is the CREATE Program?

Our training program “Cancer Research Education, Advancement, Training and Empowerment” (CREATE) at the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center (UH Cancer Center) addresses the over-arching goal to enhance the training of a workforce to meet biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research needs to lower cancer incidence and mortality in the Pacific. CREATE involves faculty mentors from the Cancer Biology and Cancer Prevention in the Pacific Programs.  The CREATE program takes advantage of the excellent research opportunities arising from the distinctive population and environment in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific with strong multi-disciplinary collaborations at the University of Hawaiʻi and with the University of Guam. Examples of research training projects include projects focused on addressing cancer-related topics important for understanding differences in risk and mortality across our multiethnic populations in the Pacific and laboratory projects focused on the study of natural compounds found nowhere else in the world to identify new cancer drugs for treatment.  In addition to the hands-on experience at UH Cancer Center, the CREATE program includes a curriculum of multi-disciplinary seminars, workshops, and career development sessions. The goal of CREATE is to offer distinctive training experiences in population sciences and cancer biology for undergraduate sophomores and juniors and for first-year graduate students.

For Undergraduate Sophomores and Juniors

This annual program will take place in the Summer of 2024. It provides hands-on summer research experiences and a multi-disciplinary curriculum to undergraduate students residing in the Islands of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific to reinforce their intent to graduate with a science degree and to consider a career to address health disparities and contribute to drug discovery. For more information on how to apply, visit the CREATE for undergraduates page.

Pacific Center for Genome Research

The Pacific Center for Genome Research’s Genomics Workforce Development Core, funded by the U54HG013243, introduces the PoWER-G program- Promotion of Workforce Employment and Readiness in Genomics. Designed as a dynamic graduate-level “workforce-in-training” initiative, PoWER-G aims to establish a robust integrated educational pipeline, providing comprehensive training and professional development in genomics and bioinformatics. The program will be open to undergraduate, doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows. More information on training opportunities will follow.