M. D. Anderson Cancer Center's (MDACC) planning and evaluation activities can be grouped into 4categories: external advisory board (EAB), program reviews, internal planning and review, and programdevelopment. External Advisory Board: MDACC has received support from the CCSG to fund an ExternalAdvisory Board (EAB) for the past 22 years. In this proposal, funds for planning and evaluation arerequested to permit MDACC to continue to convene annually this standing committee of 30 outstandingoutside scientific advisors to help plan and evaluate our programs, shared resources and institutionalresearch initiatives. The objectives of the EAB are to: review in-house research programs to evaluate theirproductivity, excellence, and applicability to institutional goals, identify potential gaps in the scientificactivities that might be crucial for development to achieve strategic research objectives, and suggest, at ahigh level, options to consider for closing these gaps, recommend approaches to develop new researchdirections, such as the three developing programs described here (Molecular Markers, Molecular Imaging,and Melanoma), and evaluate progress of these new programs, assist in recruiting faculty to the institutionby identifying appropriate candidates and evaluating the credentials of applicants for critical programs suchas the Trust, evaluate the level of collaboration between basic scientists, clinical scientists, and populationbasedinvestigators and recommend actions to appropriately enhance interactivity between these threeareas, and estimate the financial investment necessary for implementation of planned research initiatives.Program Reviews: In addition to the EAB, panels of external peer reviewers are convened to evaluate thequality and progress of selected CCSG programs. We expect to conduct 2-3 reviews annually.Internal Planning and Evaluation: Complementing external reviews are institutional internal researchplanning and review initiatives. A recent successful internal planning effort was the series of researchretreats led by Dr. Mendelsohn during 2006-07 to define major research direction for the next 10 years.Another initiative is the ad hoc program and shared resource reviews conducted by Dr. Bast, VP oftranslational research and cancer center co-director, Ms. Tektiridis, CCSG executive director, and others asappropriate to the circumstances, to monitor progress in addressing issues identified through external peerreviews, address issues identified in administrative and financial assessments, and to review internalprogram member and shared resource user feedback. Program Development: Currently, there are threeCCSG developing programs, Molecular Markers, Molecular Imaging, and Melanoma, reflective of MDACC'sresearch initiatives in these areas.
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