We are off to a wonderful, if cold, start to 2018.  I wrote "2018" as a date for the first time the morning of January 1 at 8:15 am. I was at the YMCA getting my exercise in early so I would not blow my New Year's resolution, and hopefully I will keep the "year" in mind from here on out.

At the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center we have much to look forward to, including activating all of the elements of our strategic plan, future directions and priorities outlined in our renewal application. Now is the time to dust off those projections and turn them into realities! By the way, all of you make these projections work, so your feedback is essential. I am already writing letters of support for various multi-investigator projects - make yours the next one on my list!

 

The most pressing effort going forward will be focused on the seven scientific initiatives identified through our strategic planning process over the past two years:

 

Drug Discovery and Development

Brain Tumors

Women's Cancers

Cancer Genomics

Cancer Immunotherapy

Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Research

Community and Disparities Research

 

With the help of the Executive Committee, we will identify working group leaders to develop these cross-cutting initiatives and work with the Program Leaders to integrate these efforts with the existing Programs.  Around the end of the first quarter we will ask for a consensus statement that provides guidance that we can use to develop these efforts in a coordinated manner.  Most Cancer Center members link to one or more of these areas - either as a core activity or tangentially - which is why they carry priority emphasis for our Center.   Expect to hear more about them in the coming months.

 

Also, expect to hear more about our renewal, currently in the quiet phase as the NCI awaits the federal budget. But renewed we will be, as of April 2018!

 

Happy New Year!