CaRES Preceptors are UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) faculty members who are actively engaged in cancer research. Each January these faculty members are invited to submit cancer project descriptions to the CaRES website. Interested students schedule interviews with the preceptors of all projects in which they have serious interest. Through presentation of individual project requirements and assessment of student credentials, CaRES Preceptors select the students whose background and experience fit best with their projects. Preceptors may interview as many students as they wish before selecting their Interns. Once a faculty member and a student have mutually agreed to work together, each should email Program Director Dr. John Waterbor (h2obor@uab.edu) to commit to working together. The student must also attach his or her CV or resume’ so that program eligibility can be confirmed. Typically all Interns are selected by approximately March 1 although CaRES projects cannot begin until May. Up to two Interns may be selected for a project. A Preceptor may post two or more projects as long as he or she has sufficient time available to supervise all Interns recruited.

 

CaRES Interns are UAB medical students and UAB graduate students from the Schools of Medicine, Public Health, Dentistry, and Nursing who participate in the program. Recruitment of qualified minority students is emphasized. A few graduate students from other UAB programs or medical students from other universities may participate if our budget allows. Students may participate in CaRES in two or more summers. High school students and undergraduate students are ineligible unless they hold a letter of acceptance from the UAB School of Medicine or UAB Graduate School. Each summer CaRES can support approximately 40 students.

CaRES Internships can be undertaken in the summer prior to matriculation (“year 00”) or in the summer ending the first academic year (“year 01”) of medical school or graduate school.    All CaRES projects must start and end within a designated 16-week period from May to August. Each internship lasts from 8 to 16 weeks and requires as few as 10 hours or as many as 37.5 hours of work per week, at the discretion of the CaRES Preceptor. CaRES Interns are paid a competitive hourly wage, recently $15 / hour. Every two weeks CaRES Interns must submit timesheets signed by their Preceptors to CaRES program staff. Wages are then direct-deposited into the Interns’ bank accounts. 

 

CaRES Career Development Seminar Day, typically held in the second week of July, provides an opportunity for all CaRES Interns to present their summer research methods and findings to their fellow Interns and to CaRES program faculty and staff. In addition guest speakers present career development topics such as interviewing for a job, publishing in peer-reviewed journals, and following ethical principles when doing research. A brief mid-summer evaluation is conducted in order to identify any problems or issues that could be resolved quickly, thereby improving the quality of the internship for the remaining weeks.

 

CaRES Research Presentations: Medical students who serve as CaRES Interns are required by the School of Medicine to present their research on Medical Student Research Day. Graduate students who serve as CaRES Interns are encouraged to present their findings on UAB Graduate Student Research Day. All CaRES Interns are encouraged to present a poster at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) Annual Research Retreat, where a travel award is presented to the Intern who displays the best poster in the CaRES category. The dates of these research conferences will be announced. In addition all CaRES Interns should talk with their Preceptors about presenting their work at local or national professional meetings.

 

Scholarly Activity Supplies: Any medical student who goes on to do his or her Scholarly Activity in year 03 with the same faculty member who was their CaRES Preceptor in year 00 or in year 01 can apply to CaRES for supply money for their Scholarly Activity. However CaRES cannot pay student stipends for the Scholarly Activity.

 

CaRES Program Evaluation: Evaluation of the CaRES program is necessary for continued receipt of funding from NCI and because we want detailed feedback from Interns and Preceptors so that we can improve CaRES each year. By the end of the summer all CaRES Interns and Preceptors are expected to complete exit evaluation questionnaires about satisfaction with their summer research experience. In addition CaRES longitudinally tracks all Interns for five or more years after internship completion in order to monitor career choices and record cancer research and service activities.

 

Questions? Please contact CaRES Program Director John W. Waterbor, MD, DrPH, at the UAB School of Public Health (205-934-7146; h2obor@uab.edu; Ryals Building – 227C). 

 

Thank you for your interest in CaRES!