Overview. Cancer research at Duke is a vibrant, interactive and dynamic enterprise. Eleven major research programs have significant peer-reviewed funding, but are operationally optimized only with coordinated activities and communication provided by DCCC. The DCCC serves this vital role which facilitates interprogrammatic and intraprogrammatie interactions of the research programs, and allows early entry into the development pathway towards clinical trials of promising new strategies. In addition, the ability of investigators to take observations in the clinic back to the laboratory is facilitated by the DCCC. The DCCC is central to the complex coordination of activities essential to contemporary cancer research, and makes possible many activities that would be far too complex to organize without the support of the CCSG. In the last review, this component of the CCSG was rated Good to Acceptable. Significant concerns were raised about the lack of details regarding the function and role of the External Scientific Advisory Committee, the Annual Meeting, and annual Program Retreats. It was recommended that the DCCC provide more details about the planning and evaluation process, with the establishment of long- term goals, mission statement and strategic plan. Planning is a major priority for the new DCCC leadership, and it is has been a major emphasis over the past months. Current Planning and Evaluation activities and plans for the future are described below. The DCCC has made a major effort to strengthen several areas of research based on criticisms in the Summary Statement from the previous review. This involved several planning meetings of individual Programs, Shared Resource Advisory Committees and other groups to generate long-term goals. Input was also obtained from strategic planning processes that have involved o if-campus retreats by senior leadership and input from the DCCC ESAC. Areas that were addressed include recruitment of new faculty and commitment of DCCC resources to build strength in Programs and Programs-in-Development, development of new Shared Resources, reviews of past performance, and recommendations for future directions.
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