Presented By: Jessica Chacon, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center - El Paso
Co-Authors: Houriya Ayoubieh, No Affiliation
Brandon Godinich, No Affiliation
Rivers Hock, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center - El Paso
Satish Maharaj, No Affiliation
Cynthia Perry, No Affiliation
Curt Pfarr, No Affiliation
Mark Raynor, No Affiliation

Purpose
"The Basics and Implementations of Cancer Immunotherapy," is an online elective designed for MS4s at TTUHSC El Paso. The course aims to enhance understanding of immunology/cancer biology and immunotherapeutic treatments for different cancer subtypes. The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the course in increasing comprehension of immunotherapy among medical students. The two-week elective covers topics such as CAR-T therapy, cytokine therapy, cancer vaccines, PD-L1 antibodies and CTLA-4 inhibitors. Students were also challenged to identify the risks and benefits associated with immunotherapy. At the end of the two-weeks, students were tasked with designing a novel immunotherapy treatment.

Methods
This prospective post-test study utilizes pre-assessment and a post-assessment anonymous survesy to evaluate the elective. This consists of Likert-type scale items and open-ended questions to gauge students' satisfaction, perceptions of benefits, and the overall impact of the online elective on their understanding of immunotherapy treatments.

Results
The entire student cohort unanimously expressed agreement, "Strongly Agree" or "Agree," on the elective's value in describing current immunotherapy techniques, reviewing basic immunology concepts, outlining adverse immunotherapy related events, engaging critical thinking skills, and filling in knowledge gaps related to immunotherapy and immunology. All students unanimously affirmed their own ability to identify the steps needed to manage patients with immunotherapy during residency training. This unequivocal endorsement underscores the course's efficacy in meeting its educational goals.

Conclusion
This research addresses a need to prepare future physicians to implement the rapidly developing field of immunotherapy into clinical practice. The study's goal is to encourage students to familiarize themselves with both current standard of care treatments as well as up-and-coming therapeutics that offer massive potential to the future of medicine. This course hopes to foster medical leaders that can freely move between the laboratory and bedside setting to tackle issues as multi-faceted as cancer.