Developmental Funds

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DEVELOPMENTAL FUNDS: ABSTRACT Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) Developmental Funds are critical to fulfill the mission of the University of Florida Health Cancer Center (UFHCC). Developmental Funds foster innovative research and strategic recruitment aligned with the Center's strategic initiatives. Since 2016, the UFHCC has collaborated across the University of Florida in the internal and external recruitment of 58 new UFHCC members (45 new to UF), of which 39 (67%) are early-stage investigators (ESIs), 26 (45%) are women, and 10 (17%) are underrepresented minorities. Faculty were recruited into 8 of the colleges that contribute members to the UFHCC. Of these recruits, 20 are members of Mechanisms of Oncogenesis, 19 are members of Cancer Therapeutics and Host Response, and 19 are in Cancer Control and Population Sciences, showing even distribution across the programs. UFHCC committed a total of $29.9M in start-up support for all recruitment, with $14.4M expended to date. These new UFHCC members have already made significant contributions to the center in terms of collaborative programmatic and multi-institutional research, publications, and interventional clinical trials. Importantly, since joining UF, these new members have obtained 56 new peer-reviewed extramural grants totaling $39M (direct costs), of which $14.8M (~38%) is from NCI. The total extramural funding, including transferred grants, attributed to these recruits is $52.4M (direct costs), with $24.2M (46%) awarded by the NCI. The return on investment on UFHCC recruitment expenses to date relative to all extramural peer-reviewed funding (direct costs) attributed to recruits is >3.6:1. Since 2016, the UFHCC Pilot and Exploratory Study Proposals received 183 proposals for review, with 33% approved for funding. Outcomes of projects awarded between 2016 and 2020, for which enough time had passed to assess impact ($3M of pilot funding), included 159 publications and $20M (direct costs, for all award years) in new extramural peer-reviewed funding, a return on investment ratio of ~6.7:1. Since 2016, Developmental Funds have assisted in the expansion of the UFHCC funding portfolio. With the new recruits, total cancer-relevant funding increased from $21M in 2016 to $32.6M in 2021 (up 55%) direct costs, NCI funding increasing from $9.6M to $13.2M (up 37%) direct costs. The overall research productivity of the UFHCC increased from 369 publications in 2016 to 641 in 2021 (up 1.7-fold). The number of publications with impact ≥10 went from 59 in 2016 to 95 in 2021. Since 2016, Developmental Funds also supported the recruitment of 18 members who developed novel interventional IITs. In 2016, accruals to IITs accounted for 70% of participants enrolled in trials (23% of treatment accruals). In 2021, IIT accruals accounted for 91% of enrollments (59% of treatment). Interventional trial accruals increased from 515 in 2016 to 1,748 in 2021 (up 3.4-fold). Treatment accruals increased from 138 in 2016 to 299 in 2021 (up 2.2-fold). Developmental funds will be used for pilot grants to encourage innovative transdisciplinary science on cancers relevant to the catchment area, and recruitment of highly qualified and diverse new members across the 3 research programs.