The University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) received a grant from the National Cancer Institute Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities for the CAncer Training Affecting Lives of Young Scientists and Teachers (CATALYST) program. CATALYST will serve as the cancer-focused arm of the groundbreaking UMB CURE program that began in 2015 to provide broad STEM enrichment and wraparound support to middle school students and their families from West Baltimore communities. Our long-term goal is to excite the next generation of researchers and caregivers about careers in STEM fields and provide them with experiences that foster their success to ultimately produce a biomedical workforce that reflects the diversity of our country.

Research and Mentoring Program (RAMP) is a summer research training program that targets 11th and 12th grade high school students from Baltimore City. The program aims to prepare students for careers in biomedical research. RAMP is designed for students with a strong interest in biology, chemistry, medicine, or related fields.

RAMP is a 2-year program, consisting of a 5-week summer program that teaches foundational knowledge required to understand concepts across the translational research continuum while providing the skills to perform basic lab techniques and clinical measurements and school year research rotation experiences in year one, followed by an applied summer research experience during the second summer. High school participants can be paid through YouthWorks for the summer portions in addition to being paid up to $500 for participating in the research rotations.

For more details on the program, please visit our website.