Developmental Funds

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DEVELOPMENTAL FUNDS: PROJECT SUMMARY Siteman Cancer Center’s (SCC’s) Siteman Investment Program (SIP) includes a portfolio of funding mechanisms that support innovative scientific research through competitive funding opportunities; investments in our community, catchment, and faculty; and strategic recruitment efforts to strengthen and diversify SCC’s scientific research portfolio. SCC’s current five-year strategic plan, as well as the needs of SCC’s catchment area, provide the foundation for all funding decisions. SCC Senior Leadership (SL) designed the SIP to align closely with their overall vision for the center, with the highest priority placed on promotion of transdisciplinary, translational, and collaborative research. Funding received from the Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) Developmental Funds component is significantly augmented by SCC philanthropic assets to provide approximately $4 million ($4M) per year to SCC members through the SIP Research Development Award (RDA) biannual funding opportunity. SCC SL designed SIP RDA to include a rigorous peer-review process modeled after the NIH review process. SCC SL and SCC Administration closely monitor program outcomes for progress and productivity, including participation by junior investigators. Since 2015, 24 Pre-R01 awardees (42%) were junior investigators who collectively received $4.5M in SIP RDA funding. Of those 24, 11 (46%) have already leveraged at least one external award, collectively totaling $13.5M in directs. The SIP RDA program also includes a mentoring opportunity for unfunded applicants, including junior faculty, to meet with the SIP RDA chair to discuss critiques and improvements at the end of the review cycle. The success rate for resubmissions is 37%, which suggests that these meetings are valuable for unfunded SIP RDA applicants who reapply in future funding cycles. From 2013–2017, SCC awarded a total of $23.6M through the SIP to investigators across all seven of SCC’s research programs. To date, SCC faculty have leveraged $120M in direct costs ($173M total costs) in external funding. This $120M includes 44 NCI awards ($83.5M, 70% of total leveraged) and 31 NIH and other cancer peer-reviewed grants ($28.5M, 23% of total leveraged); thus, 93% of all dollars leveraged from the SIP come from peer-reviewed awards. In the next project period, SCC will grow its commitment to and investment in SIP to significantly advance cancer discovery through support of novel and collaborative research, recurring annual investment for faculty recruitment, and by providing funding for unfunded and/or underfunded investigator- initiated clinical trials. Funding from CCSG Developmental Funds will continue to be awarded to SCC members through the SIP RDA program.