Susan L. Naylor, Ph.D., principal investigator for the Health Science Center’s NCI grant, is a professor in the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology.
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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is working to foster cancer research in the Rio Grande Valley in partnership with the University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA).

Two NCI grants funding the research
The effort is being funded by parallel grants from the National Cancer Institute, including more than $630,000 awarded to the UT Health Science Center last fall. UTPA received its own grant at the same time.

Grants to fund three pilot projects
The exploratory grants will fund several pilot projects in research, training and outreach. The researchers hope their work over the next four years will eventually lead to a larger Comprehensive Minority Institution/Cancer Center Partnership grant.

The NCI grant, however, will accomplish many worthwhile things by itself, said Susan L. Naylor, Ph.D., principal investigator for the Health Science Center grant and a professor in the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology: “I really think that we can make a positive impact with these initial funds.”

One project will examine possible cancer-fighting compounds
Three separate pilot projects are planned under the grant. A collaboration is already under way between Dr. Naylor and Bimal K. Banik, Ph.D., a chemist who is principal investigator on the UTPA grant. Dr. Banik will synthesize new compounds, while Dr. Naylor will train UTPA students to run tests on those compounds to see if they have cancer-fighting abilities. The students will begin training at the UT Health Science Center this April.

Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr.P.H., director of the Health Science Center’s Institute for Health Promotion Research, will collaborate on health disparities research with UTPA economics professor José A. Pagán, Ph.D.

Health disparities and economics the subject of second research project
Two other projects will start in the fall. The first will team Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr.P.H., a nationally recognized authority in health disparities from the Health Science Center’s Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR), with José A. Pagán, Ph.D., a UTPA economist who looks at health disparities from an economic perspective. They will be joined by IHPR researchers Luis F. Velez, M.D., Ph.D.; Patricia Chalela, Dr.P.H.; and Jennifer Salinas, Ph.D., LMSW.

Drs. Ramirez and Pagán will examine Latinas’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors when it comes to breast cancer genetic testing. The goal is to develop and pre-test a survey that accurately assesses the factors that go into Latinas’ decision-making process.

“Oftentimes, we know that the Latino community does not have a lot of information about the availability of genetic tests and what their utility is,” Dr. Ramirez said.

Third project is a collaborative summer research program for students
The other pilot project is a summer program that beginning in 2010 will bring UTPA students to the Health Science Center to work in cancer research laboratories. Dr. Naylor is spearheading the program, along with Scott Gunn, Ph.D., a UTPA professor of biology.

“I got into scientific research through a summer program. It is an experience that lets somebody know that they really, really want to do science – or that they don’t, which is equally important,” Dr. Naylor said, adding that the summer program “will give them the opportunity to see what it’s like to do research that is competitive at the national level.”

RAHC’s Edinburg campus at UTPA is helping to facilitate partnership
Partnership with UTPA is made easier by the Health Science Center’s Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC) campuses in the Lower Rio Grande Valley – particularly the RAHC’s Medical Research Division in Edinburg, which is located on the UTPA campus.

Leonel Vela, M.D., M.P.H., regional dean of the RAHC, is excited about the prospect of partnerships between the two universities and what they might mean for the Valley.

“It addresses the issue of preparing the next generation of science researchers for this area, particularly in cancer research,” Dr. Vela said. “As we build our research enterprise down here, it’s going to be more and more important to recruit locally.”