The Partnership has built a successful, multi-institutional, transdisciplinary cancer research program and is proud to share the impact of our collaborations. As our accomplishments below demonstrate, our focus is not only on cancer research itself, but also on research education, career development, provision of research resources, and community outreach.

Partnership accomplishments (2010 – 2023)

Research program

38 joint cross-institutional projects funded, funding 89 investigators (44 UMass Boston, 45 DF/HCC), 44% of whom are faculty of color

Early-stage investigators (ESI)

59 funded (18 UMass Boston, 41 DF/HCC), 54% of whom are investigators of color; 24% of whom are from underrepresented groups

Career advancement

59 investigators received faculty appointments, tenure, or promotion (28 UMass Boston, 31 DF/HCC), 54% of whom are faculty of color; 17% of whom are from underrepresented groups

Training

420 trainees from the undergraduate to postdoctoral level, 49% of whom are from underrepresented/underserved groups in STEM

Cancer outreach*

19 NCI NON Screen-to-Save sessions delivered, reaching 350 participants

Grants

171 grants funded (63 direct, 108 indirect) totaling $68,176,473

Publications

409 manuscripts (132 direct, 277 indirect)

Patents

5 patents (direct)

*Formal Outreach Core funding began in 2013.

Research project highlights

  • UMass Boston undergraduate and Research Education Core trainee, Matheus N. Berbet, received an award for his oral presentation in the Computational and Systems Biology section at the 2024 ABRCMS conference.
  • Zoltan Szallasi, MD, and Shailja Pathania, PhD, PIs of a recent Partnership-funded pilot project, published a paper in npj Precision Oncology titled Increased Frequency of CHD1 Deletions in Prostate Cancers of African American Men is Associated with Modest Levels of Homologous Recombination Deficiency but Significantly Increased Talazoparib Sensitivity.
  • The Outreach Core Lead, K. Vish Viswanath, PhD, published a consensus study report titled Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science with the National Academies: Sciences, Engineering, Medicine.
  • Kourosh Zarringhalam of the Genomics Core was recently promoted to Full Professor in the Department of Mathematics at UMass Boston.
  • Huimin Yan, PhD, and Christina Dieli-Conwright, PhD, MPH, published a study protocol in Frontiers in Oncology alongside trainees from their THRIVE trial (Testing home-based exercise strategies in underserved minority cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy).
  • The Outreach Core team, including K. Vish Viswanath, Sara Minsky, and Shoba Ramanadhan, recently published a paper in the Journal of Medical Internet Research titled Adapting and Evaluating a Brief Advice Tobacco Cessation Intervention in High-reach, Low-resource Settings in India: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

“The Partnership and my research experience helped me navigate my career goals through excellent mentorship from my PI who provides insight on next steps and ways to reduce debt in graduate level programs.”

– Shinelle, postbaccalaureate