M. D. Anderson Cancer Center's (MDACC) planning and evaluation activities can be grouped into 4 categories: external advisory board (EAB), program reviews, internal planning and review, and program development. External Advisory Board: MDACC has received support from the CCSG to fund an External Advisory Board (EAB) for the past 22 years. In this proposal, funds for planning and evaluation are requested to permit MDACC to continue to convene annually this standing committee of 30 outstanding outside scientific advisors to help plan and evaluate our programs, shared resources and institutional research initiatives. The objectives of the EAB are to: review in-house research programs to evaluate their productivity, excellence, and applicability to institutional goals, identify potential gaps in the scientific activities that might be crucial for development to achieve strategic research objectives, and suggest, at a high level, options to consider for closing these gaps, recommend approaches to develop new research directions, 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 institution by identifying appropriate candidates and evaluating the credentials of applicants for critical programs such as the Trust, evaluate the level of collaboration between basic scientists, clinical scientists, and populationbased investigators and recommend actions to appropriately enhance interactivity between these three areas, 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 the quality and progress of selected CCSG programs. We expect to conduct 2-3 reviews annually. Internal Planning and Evaluation: Complementing external reviews are institutional internal research planning and review initiatives. A recent successful internal planning effort was the series of research retreats 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 of translational research and cancer center co-director, Ms. Tektiridis, CCSG executive director, and others as appropriate to the circumstances, to monitor progress in addressing issues identified through external peer reviews, address issues identified in administrative and financial assessments, and to review internal program member and shared resource user feedback. Program Development: Currently, there are three CCSG developing programs, Molecular Markers, Molecular Imaging, and Melanoma, reflective of MDACC's research initiatives in these areas.
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