The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute offer a NIH/NCI (National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, R25CA250979) funded R25 program – PCAR geared towards rising M2 medical students.
This program provides hands-on experiences in cancer research coupled with education in cancer biology and clinical care to ignite the imagination of future physicians to solve difficult research problems and improve cancer outcomes. The main program is conducted over 8-weeks during the summer.
Overview of Activities
- Cancer mentored-research experience
- Clinical simulations of patient interactions and breast/gynecologic cancer diagnoses
- Clinical rotations in palliative care
- Death over Dinner event
- Lecture series on different aspects of cancer biology, diagnosis and treatment
Program Details
PCAR participants will carry out research with a UAMS faculty mentor (list of available faculty below). Students will select up to three faculty they would like to work with, and efforts will be made to match students with one of these faculty. Faculty not on the list can also be considered. Students are encouraged to discuss research opportunities with faculty prior to application submission. However, if selected faculty are not available, the Program Director will identify another faculty mentor through discussion with the student.
During the program, students are expected to deliver individual presentations discussing their research and to compete as a team in showcasing an AI-driven therapeutic development project. At the end of the summer, students will submit a PPT or PDF poster summarizing their research efforts. This poster can be printed later and used to present at scientific conferences and UAMS Student Research Day.
Participants are provided a stipend of $6,000. Participants who live outside of Little Rock are eligible for coverage of housing and travel costs. There are funds available to attend scientific conferences.
Program Director
Samantha Kendrick, PhD (skendrick@uams.edu)
Program Coordinator
Diane McKinstry (dmckinstry@uams.edu)
Important Dates
- Application Deadline: April 6, 2026
- Students will be notified of acceptance by April 20
- Program Dates: June 1 – July 24, 2026
Faculty Mentors
Mimi L Allen, PhD
Epidemiology
Cancer disparities and prevention
Antino Allen, PhD
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Chemotherapeutics
Konstantinos Arnaoutakis, MD
Internal Medicine
Lung Cancer
Nukhet Aykin-Burns, PhD
Radiation Health
Breast, cutaneous/melanoma, and GI cancers
Michael J Birrer, MD/PhD
Internal Medicine
Ovarian cancer
Marjan Boerma, PhD
Pharmaceutical Science
Cancer prevention, detection, and treatment
Marie Burdine, PhD
Surgery
Cancer biology and therapeutics
Lyle Burdine, MD/PhD
Surgery
GI cancers and therapeutics
Jesus Delgado-Calle, MD
Physiology & Cell Biology
Multiple myeloma
Alan Diekman, PhD
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Prostate cancer and cancer biology
Ruud Dings, PhD
Radiation Oncology
Head and Neck, GI, lung cancers and therapeutics
Dan Dixon, PhD
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Colon cancer, prevention and therapeutics
Eric Enemark, PhD
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Structural biology, cancer biology, medulloblastoma
Jason Farrar, MD
Pediatrics
Hematologic malignancies
Robert Griffin, PhD
Radiation Oncology
Brain, breast, head and neck, and lung cancers
Ping Ching Hsu, PhD
Environmental Health Sciences
Breast and prostate cancers
Samantha Kendrick, PhD
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lymphomas
Brian Koss, PhD
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Cancer immunotherapy
Jia Liu, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
Ovarian cancer and cancer immunotherapy
Angus MacNicol, PhD
Neuroscience
Pituitary cancer
Mark Manzano, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
Lymphomas
Isabelle Racine Miousse, PhD
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
GI cancers
Mayumi Nakagawa, MD/PhD
Pathology
Cervical cancer
Kimberly Stephens, PhD
Neuroscience
Breast cancer and cancer-related pain
Alan Tackett, PhD
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Cutaneous cancer and melanoma
Amit Tiwari, PhD
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Melanoma, breast, GI, and prostate cancers
Ellen van der Plas, PhD
Pediatrics
Hematologic malignancies
Emre Vural, MD
Internal Medicine
Head and Neck
Christopher Wardell, PhD
Biomedical Informatics
Cancer bioinformatics, myeloma, brain and breast cancers
Fen Xia, MD/PhD
Radiation Oncology
Cancer biology and radiation
Fenghuang Zhan, MD/PhD
Internal Medicine
Multiple myeloma