In a new study published in the June 7, 2012, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, Jean Tang, MD, PhD, and other researchers turn their attention to preventing basal-cell carcinomas, the most common skin cancer in the United States.
The study, Inhibiting the Hedgehog Pathway in Patients with the Basal-Cell Nevus Syndrome, explores the use of vismodegib, the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug that targets and inhibits the hedgehog signaling pathway, the driver of basal-cell carcinoma.
Study authors noted that “overall, findings confirm the essential role of the hedgehog pathway in basal-cell carcinomas and indicate that vismodegib is efficacious in preventing and treating basal-cell carcinomas in patients with the basal-cell nevus syndrome.”
Tang, who was an assistant clinical professor of Dermatology at UCSF, received research support through the K Scholars Program, which is managed by UCSF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and provides a wide array of support to junior faculty at all four UCSF schools.
“The K Scholars Program gave me all the fundamental training in statistics, clinical research design, ethics, and clinical trials conduct to write the study, carry it out, and analyze the data,” Tang said. “Mentors and colleagues in the clinical trial focus group of the K Program also helped me create the clinical trial, and reviewed the design and gave me expert feedback.”
Resources and services provided by the K Scholars Program include salary support, weekly works-in-progress and methodology seminars, and access to core faculty who provide expertise and guidance in research design, measurement and questionnaire design, study coordination, data management, biostatistical analysis, publishing and presenting research, and manuscript and grant writing.
CTSI has also created a successful K Proposal Library. Information about K Scholar eligibility, scholar selection criteria, and the application process is available here.
Tang is currently an assistant professor of dermatology at Stanford University.
CTSI is a member of the National Institutes of Health-funded Clinical and Translational Science Awards network. Under the banner of Accelerating Research to Improve Health, it provides a wide range of services for researchers, and promotes online collaboration and networking tools such as UCSF Profiles.