Chicago EYES on Cancer

The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center has a rich history of trailblazers and breakthroughs in cancer research. Drawing from a pool of exceptional local students, we are building upon our strong research traditions and accomplishments to help shape a new era of cancer research that is full of diversity, different perspectives, robust inquiry, and team science.

Chicago EYES on Cancer is really about building the pipeline of future cancer researchers and making sure that we have diversity, bringing people that are typically underrepresented in the sciences and giving them the opportunity and exposure to those careers.

Chicago EYES on Cancer is a cancer research training program for high school students, for undergraduate students, and also for high school teachers of the sciences. This is a two-year program, so all of our participants are with us for two summers for eight weeks each, and they are placed in a cancer research laboratory based on their own interests in terms of the methodologies that they might be interested in developing or a particular kind of cancer that they're interested in. And this research experience is the fundamental component of the program.

I was provided with lifelong mentors. Me and Dr. Dolan and Kathy and Megan, we are still close. Nothing changed. Their support for me have not changed. If it wasn't for Dr. Dolan and Kathy, I probably wouldn't have had a love for medicine because they love doing research, especially Dr. Dolan. She's really passionate about her job. And Kathy's history with her father passing away from cancer, she loves what she's doing too. So the love that they had for medicine, they put it upon me.

We get these different lectures throughout the summer during Wednesdays, and we're able to hear about all these amazing researchers and what they're doing, and about their lab and what it's like. And it's very inspiring, and you get to talk to them and meet them. And then you can become part of their lab too. So just the networking, all the opportunities that we're given, it's one of the best things.

I am a veteran teacher. I've been teaching for 18 years, and I've done quite a bit of professional development. This program stands apart from all the other ones in that not only does it build teacher capacity in terms of my actual science skills, but more importantly, it actually allows me to build a partnership with the University of Chicago, specifically the EYES team in bringing this to my classroom in a meaningful way.

Not only is this an opportunity for you to be in a lab and do research, but also to engage with the surrounding community. I think this program really emphasizes being a good neighbor and really connecting with the people around you. And I think it's incredibly important when you do science to understand the environment in which you're working in, especially when you're doing research on the South side of Chicago. And so I am very thankful that the program does have such a high emphasis on outreach in the community.

The broad network stemming from mentored research experiences, comprehensive career development, and outreach will spur a new generation of breakthrough research scientists.

I think we absolutely need scientists. We have certainly not cured cancer. The cancer is 100 or more different diseases. We've made great advances, but we need a set of new minds that can think out of the box, that can bring in.