Leadership, Planning and Evaluation

LEADERSHIP PLANNING AND EVALUATION - ABSTRACT University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center’s (UHCC) Senior Leadership, led by Director Ueno, is structured to facilitate collaborative and translational science and includes a Chief Scientific Officer, Associate Directors [Shared Resources, Community Outreach and Engagement (COE), Cancer Research Training (CRT), Translational and Clinical Research (TCR), Population Sciences, and Administration], and co-Program Leaders for Cancer Biology, and Population Sciences in the Pacific. The UHCC Director also receives input from Principal Investigators of major infrastructure grants, the Medical Director for the Clinical Trials Office, Cancer Center Support Grant Coordinator, and leaders of the UHCC-based academic senate. This team of exceptional individuals is charged with actualizing the mission of the UHCC, which is to reduce the burden of cancer through research, education, patient care and community outreach, with an emphasis on the unique cultural and environmental characteristics of Hawai‘i and the Pacific. The UHCC’s robust Planning and Evaluation process is designed to periodically revise and strengthen our ongoing strategic plan and to identify and establish new long-term strategic goals. Essential elements of this process are that it is responsive to needs of our faculty and staff and to the needs of our catchment area, while also including regular review of the overall strategic plans of UHCC by the Senior Leadership. Once new goals are identified, these are vetted by our External Advisory Committee (EAC) on a yearly basis. Strategic goals are prioritized based on several criteria including: 1) how well they contribute to furthering our institutional mission to reduce the burden of cancer in Hawai‘i and the Pacific; 2) how well they build on UHCC research strengths centered on the unique cultural and environmental characteristics of Hawai‘i and the Pacific; 3) how well they expand our research and clinical efforts into new areas in response to catchment area needs and advances in cancer research; and 4) availability of funds for the specific goal. We have various internal advisory committees, each dedicated to specific areas such as patient-related matters, education, community engagement, faculty concerns, pilot funding, membership, and UHCC space. These committees offer valuable input to the Director and Senior Leadership team. Our EAC is structured to include members with various expertise appropriate to our Center. It includes current and previous NCI cancer center directors, a cancer center administrator, a shared resource director and four members with expertise related to our Cancer Biology Program (basic laboratory and clinical) and four members with expertise related to our Population Sciences in the Pacific Program (prevention, cancer control and population sciences). Three of these members also have extensive clinical trials experience. This Leadership, Planning and Evaluation process has enabled the UHCC to put in place a vigorous and robust process of vision setting, fostering discovery and advancing scientific discoveries, evaluating progress, and planning for the future.