42 min
Taking ACTION in Appalachia Inside Cancer Careers
-
- Science
In this episode of Inside Cancer Careers, we hear the amazing story of the very successful Appalachian Career Training in Oncology (ACTION) Program from Dr. Nathan Vanderford, an Associate Professor within the Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and Director of the ACTION program along with two ACTION program alums Susanna Goggans, a second year medical student and Michael Buoncristiani, a senior and soon to be first year medical student at the University of Kentucky.
Show Notes:
Nathan Vanderford, Ph.D., MBA
Appalachian Career Training in Oncology (ACTION) Program
Youth Enjoy Science (YES) Research Education Program (R25)
Book Recommendation: ReSearch: A Career Guide for Scientists
Your Turn:
Book Recommendations:
· The Guest List by Lucy Foley
· The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia: Kentucky Students Take ACTION (1st edition)
· The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia: Kentucky Students Take ACTION (2nd edition)
Cancer in Appalachia Instagram Page
TRANSCRIPT
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
OLIVER BOGLER: Hello and welcome to Inside Cancer Careers, a podcast from the National Cancer Institute. I'm your host Oliver Bogler. I work at the NCI, in the Center for Cancer Training.
On Inside Cancer Careers we explore all the different ways that people join the fight against disease and hear their stories.
Today we are talking to Dr. Nathan Vanderford from the University of Kentucky who runs a program for high school and undergraduate students that are tackling the cancer crisis in Appalachia and will also have two of the alums from that program on the show.
OLIVER: It's a pleasure to welcome Dr. Nathan Vanderford to the show. He's an associate professor in the Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and the Director of the Appalachian Career Training and Oncology or ACTION Program. Welcome, Dr. Vanderford.
NATHAN VANDERFORD: Thank you very much, it's great to be here.
OLIVER: Before we jump in to learn more about the ACTION Program, I wanted to ask you about your own journey to the position that you hold today, what was it that you got you interested in science and cancer?
NATHAN: Yeah, you know, from a very early age, I mean, from, you know, five years old or maybe a little younger I had aspirations of being a medical doctor. Didn't quite make it there, but, you know, in science, nonetheless. But I think I was inspired by, you know, being sick as a kid, it turns out, long story short, grew up in a house where we burned wood to heat our house and I was allergic to the wood smoke, and it would make me very sick as a kid in the wintertime. And, so, I was inspired, I wanted to, you know, help others that were sick like me. And then, you know, over time I just got even more interested in science, basic biology, I wanted to really understand how we worked, like, you know, biomedicine, biomedical research really interested me. And, so, when I went to college all I wanted to do was just take biology and chemistry classes and learn as much as I could about how we as humans functioned.
OLIVER: Fascinating. You have an MBA, a Master’s in Business Administration, that's not a common qualification among scientists, can you tell us what prompted you to get an MBA?
NATHAN: Yeah, so, when I finished training, so I did a post-doc in Vanderbilt and then I came back to the University of Kentucky and started out a quote real job, real world job, and, you know, some of the things that I was doing I could see where even though, you know, I just said I loved being an undergraduate and grad student, learning everything I could about science, but I missed out on opportunities to learn other things and, you know, business administration concepts I think many of use in a variety of different job settings. You know, as scientists, you know, if you run your own research program,
In this episode of Inside Cancer Careers, we hear the amazing story of the very successful Appalachian Career Training in Oncology (ACTION) Program from Dr. Nathan Vanderford, an Associate Professor within the Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and Director of the ACTION program along with two ACTION program alums Susanna Goggans, a second year medical student and Michael Buoncristiani, a senior and soon to be first year medical student at the University of Kentucky.
Show Notes:
Nathan Vanderford, Ph.D., MBA
Appalachian Career Training in Oncology (ACTION) Program
Youth Enjoy Science (YES) Research Education Program (R25)
Book Recommendation: ReSearch: A Career Guide for Scientists
Your Turn:
Book Recommendations:
· The Guest List by Lucy Foley
· The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia: Kentucky Students Take ACTION (1st edition)
· The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia: Kentucky Students Take ACTION (2nd edition)
Cancer in Appalachia Instagram Page
TRANSCRIPT
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
OLIVER BOGLER: Hello and welcome to Inside Cancer Careers, a podcast from the National Cancer Institute. I'm your host Oliver Bogler. I work at the NCI, in the Center for Cancer Training.
On Inside Cancer Careers we explore all the different ways that people join the fight against disease and hear their stories.
Today we are talking to Dr. Nathan Vanderford from the University of Kentucky who runs a program for high school and undergraduate students that are tackling the cancer crisis in Appalachia and will also have two of the alums from that program on the show.
OLIVER: It's a pleasure to welcome Dr. Nathan Vanderford to the show. He's an associate professor in the Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and the Director of the Appalachian Career Training and Oncology or ACTION Program. Welcome, Dr. Vanderford.
NATHAN VANDERFORD: Thank you very much, it's great to be here.
OLIVER: Before we jump in to learn more about the ACTION Program, I wanted to ask you about your own journey to the position that you hold today, what was it that you got you interested in science and cancer?
NATHAN: Yeah, you know, from a very early age, I mean, from, you know, five years old or maybe a little younger I had aspirations of being a medical doctor. Didn't quite make it there, but, you know, in science, nonetheless. But I think I was inspired by, you know, being sick as a kid, it turns out, long story short, grew up in a house where we burned wood to heat our house and I was allergic to the wood smoke, and it would make me very sick as a kid in the wintertime. And, so, I was inspired, I wanted to, you know, help others that were sick like me. And then, you know, over time I just got even more interested in science, basic biology, I wanted to really understand how we worked, like, you know, biomedicine, biomedical research really interested me. And, so, when I went to college all I wanted to do was just take biology and chemistry classes and learn as much as I could about how we as humans functioned.
OLIVER: Fascinating. You have an MBA, a Master’s in Business Administration, that's not a common qualification among scientists, can you tell us what prompted you to get an MBA?
NATHAN: Yeah, so, when I finished training, so I did a post-doc in Vanderbilt and then I came back to the University of Kentucky and started out a quote real job, real world job, and, you know, some of the things that I was doing I could see where even though, you know, I just said I loved being an undergraduate and grad student, learning everything I could about science, but I missed out on opportunities to learn other things and, you know, business administration concepts I think many of use in a variety of different job settings. You know, as scientists, you know, if you run your own research program,
42 min