The Multi-Consortia Coordinating (MC2) Center facilitates collaboration, training, professional development and resource sharing across multidisciplinary research initiatives. A core activity is outreach, facilitated prominently through an Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG), with participation across supported NIH/NCI Division of Cancer Biology (DCB)-funded cancer research consortia. In 2024, the current EOWG chairs, supported by the MC2 Center, adopted team science principles (TSP) to foster psychological safety and inclusivity in monthly meetings and activities. Prominent TSP facilitating this success as outlined in “Collaboration and Team Science Field Guide” are Trust, Vision, Sustaining and Strengthening the Team and Navigating and Leveraging Networks (Bennett, L., Gadlin, H. and Marchand, C; 2018).

Relying on identity- and competence- based trust, the EOWG co-chairs focus on transparency, actively engage early career researchers (ECRs), and consistently ask “who is not here/why?” and “what is missing/how do we find it.” This commitment directly results in broad, sustained active support of outreach and education outputs.

Chairs of the EOWG historically provided an annual priority summary. With the shift to adopt TSP, the current chairs develop a vision statement shared with the group for consensus semiannually. Permanent vision statement components showcase individual program efforts, find common threads to build networks of support for projects and identify one cross-cutting deliverable that exemplifies individual and collective strengths of the participating consortia. As a result, interest has been consistent and program officer guidance can be more direct.

Intentional monitoring of tone and inclusion has supported a strong, sustained group presence of between 8-15 participants. Members frequently bring outputs in early stages of development for feedback and support. Discussions are moderated to support a “success first, action forward” approach to feedback, resulting in improvements to processes and outcomes. These discussions frequently lead to new collaborations leveraging cross-consortia expertise.

A central strength of the EOWG is networking and leveraging expertise and experience across institutions, consortia, career stages, methodological approaches and diverse perspectives. The EOWG prioritizes networking opportunities and resource development to foster ECR growth. Holistic leadership, energy from participants and welcoming outside resources results in consistently widespread benefits for the group.

Leveraging TSP, the EOWG supported completion and development of products providing legacy knowledge and value beyond the funded lifespan of the consortia. Of note are systems biology in clinical practice education for clinicians, student led/produced computational methods workshops and undergraduate challenges leveraging real-world tools and data. With support from the MC2 Center, ongoing efforts include “plug and play” learning modules for use within established curricula or as stand-alone training opportunities and support of ECRs in conference leadership roles. Key 2026 outputs include: 1) a joint MC2 Center and EOWG manuscript scoping cancer education resources to identify gaps and future collaborative opportunities; and 2) a retrospective report of four years of mini-DREAM program leveraging a TSP authorship method. These are powerful examples of team science in cancer research success.