There are several opportunities for faculty enrichment and development across Stony Brook University and Stony Brook Medicine campuses.
Several inter-departmental missions provide enrichment. The first is the Institute for Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (ICB&DD), which has 45 members, almost half of whom are working on cancer therapeutics. The ICB&DD addresses many aspects of drug development, making it relevant to many members of SBCC. Regular internal workshops, research meetings and annual symposia serve to bring drug development investigators together and promote collaborations.
The SBCC has recently also created an “engineering-driven medicine” initiative to connect the many talented engineering faculty with cancer researchers. This effort, supported by annual lectures and pilot program funding from the School of Medicine and College of Engineering and Science, has led to many new collaborative relationships.
Mentoring for junior faculty with respect to grant applications is also provided, both individually from senior SBCC faculty members as applications are being developed, and as a group in bimonthly Cancer Grant Development workshops\. Presentations in the workshops are accompanied by the development of small mentoring groups of senior faculty for each junior faculty member. The SBU Research Foundation also holds multiple training sessions each year in grant writing for junior faculty.
The institution offers multiple types of faculity workshops on approaching tenure and other topics important for junior and mid-level faculty, including workshops on “mentoring the mentors.” The Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University offers annual faculty mentoring awards. There is a School of Medicine Women in Medicine program that includes many members of the SBCC, which has an annual poster day presentation and speaker.
Finally, a fund to support travel for junior faculty to present their research at AACR (American Association for Cancer Research), ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology), the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, and similar meetings has been established.