Developmental Funds

ABSTRACT CCSG Developmental Funds continue to be used to support the mission of the Cancer Center in two categories critical to the advancement of its goals: 1) faculty recruitment aligning with the strategic priorities of the Center and 2) pilot project grants to stimulate cross-disciplinary research involving population science. Both categories continue to provide rich opportunities for the Center to strengthen its research portfolio. The current faculty recruitment initiative supports the recruitment of primarily junior faculty who are pursuing research in varied areas of strategic interest for the Center (a change from our prior focus in this cycle on faculty with expertise in computational biology specifically). Faculty Recruitment Funds enable the Center to attract top talent by providing a startup/transition package that allows new recruits to have the resources to immediately develop their research programs. Pilot Project Funds to support cross-disciplinary pilot projects involving the Population Sciences Research (PSR) Program and other Center programs. These funds support projects that cover a broad spectrum of population research areas and align with the PSR Program’s programmatic themes: 1) cancer etiology and risk; 2) health behavior and symptom control; and 3) health care delivery, access, and imbalances. The projects must be multidisciplinary as a requirement, and creative cross-disciplinary interactions are encouraged, matching population scientists with basic laboratory investigators or clinical investigators.