Developmental Funds

Developmental Funds Developmental Funds (DFs) add significant value to the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (NCCC) members who conduct basic, translational, clinical, and population research. Specifically, we utilized CCSG DFs in the current grant period to recruit 11 new faculty members, to support seven CCSG pilot projects, and to catalyze a restructuring of our bioinformatics platform, leading to the expansion of the NCCC Biostatistics Core into a full-service Data Science Shared Resource (SR). Notably, DFs were utilized, in part, to support the cluster recruitment of John Carpten PhD and colleagues from the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) who competed successfully for several new grants including a new NCI U54 CaRE2 center grant on unique communities which integrates faculty across all five NCCC Programs. CCSG DFs were augmented by substantial institutional investments to foster high impact collaborative research with emphasis on addressing cancer burdens and disparities in our catchment area. The return on investment (ROI) for CCSG DFs in the current period is 21:1 and contributed to the increase in NCI funding by 22%, peer-reviewed funding by 11%, and overall cancer related funding by 18% (direct costs). The process for awarding DFs is led by Administration with final decisions made by the NCCC Director with input from Senior and Program Leaders. There are notable improvements in this process during the current grant period. First, based on the NCCC Strategic Plan, targeted areas for DF-supported faculty recruitments are identified by the Executive Committee and faculty are recruited through a systematic search process. Second, the new Director refreshed the Scientific Review Committee for DF-supported pilot projects; this committee reviews and scores all applications for internally-funded pilot award opportunities. Further, the new Associate Director for Administration enhanced the pilot awards process, from the distribution of RFAs, to review and decision-making, and finally to the tracking of metrics of success for DF-supported members. Tracking of metrics of success for faculty recruits and pilot grants has been enhanced substantially through the recruitment of a seasoned research administrator. In this application, we request ($1,375,000) to support strategic faculty recruitments ($1M) and developmental pilot projects ($375K), to be supplemented by institutional investments, as we did in the current project period. The new NCCC Strategic Plan, “Shaping the Future of Cancer Science 2020-2025”, will guide these future investments, with a focus on specific priorities: interventions to reduce cancer disparities, cancer therapeutics/drug and biomarker development, and translational and clinical research in immune-oncology. As in the current period, we will maintain a sharp focus on recruiting the best and brightest faculty in medicine.