Developmental Funds

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ABSTRACT During the current grant period, CCSG developmental funds were used to support the mission of the Cancer Center in 2 categories critical to the advancement of its goals: 1) additional faculty recruitment in disciplines related to the strategic vision of the Center and 2) pilot project grants to stimulate cross-disciplinary research involving population science. Both categories have proven rich opportunities for the Center to strengthen and diversify its research portfolio. Funds requested to support faculty recruitment in strategic areas have enabled the Center to attract top talent by providing a start-up/transition package that has enabled 8 new recruits to have the resources to immediately develop their research programs. Since their arrival at MSK, these 8 investigators have received $23.8M in peer-reviewed funding and produced over 25 manuscripts from their laboratories. Funds requested to support cross-disciplinary pilot projects involving PSR and other Center programs supported 16 projects, covering the broad spectrum of areas of population research that characterize the PSR Program, with multiple awards in each of PSR’s major programmatic themes: 1) cancer etiology and risk; 2) health behavior and symptom control; and 3) health care delivery, access and disparities. The projects were multidisciplinary as a requirement, and in many cases creative cross-disciplinary interactions were formed, matching population scientists with basic laboratory investigators or clinical investigators. Results have been exciting, with 3 of our junior investigators receiving their first NIH grants as a result of the pilot funds provided by this program. To date, 8 peer-reviewed grants have been awarded stemming from the research conducted in these pilot projects (4 NCI, 2 other NIH, 2 ACS). The total direct cost from these grants is $8,816,229. Building on the success in the current grant period, the Center proposes to continue its program in PSR Pilot Project Funding. We also propose a second faculty recruitment initiative to support the recruitment and integration of faculty with expertise in computational biology. This initiative will build on recent, strategic infrastructure investments in computational biology made by MSK.