Leadership, Planning and Evaluation

ABSTRACT – LEADERSHIP, PLANNING AND EVALUATION The significant accomplishments of the Lurie Cancer Center (LCC) in this funding period, described throughout this renewal application, are evidence of the effectiveness and productivity of a highly engaged senior leadership and impactful planning and evaluation processes. Leonidas Platanias MD, PhD serves as Director of LCC. Dr. Platanias is supported by a well-established and comprehensive system for planning and evaluation. The Senior Leadership team includes nationally recognized leaders with well-defined roles and responsibilities. This highly experienced Senior Leadership team works together on the Executive Committee to: ensure consistency in the shared vision and goals of the LCC; foster synergistic and highly collaborative interactions among the basic, population, translational and clinical research components of the LCC; effectively leverage all available institutional resources; engage in clinical trials, community outreach, education and mentoring; and oversee all activities of the LCC. Planning and evaluation by the LCC External and Internal Advisory Boards (EAB and IAB, respectively), the Executive Committee (EC), and two other councils: Community Advisory Board (CAB) and Patient and Family Advisory Board (PFAB) provide the Director and Senior Leadership ongoing guidance and support. Additional planning guidance is provided by retreats, other center advisory committees, surveys, and ad hoc reviews. The EC, Program Leaders Committee (PLC), the Scientific Leadership Council (SLC), and the Clinical Cancer Center Executive Council (CCCEC) facilitate internal planning and evaluation. During the current funding period, the planning and evaluation capacity of the LCC has enabled remarkable progress in all aspects of research, clinical trials, training, and community missions. Guided by the 2017-2022 Strategic Plan, fully executed during this funding period, LCC has facilitated and led several transformative processes, including: 1) The restructuring of Research Programs for better alignment, and more effective transdisciplinary collaboration and translation; 2) The leveraging of succession planning to promote existing faculty leaders to four CCSG funded Associate Director roles; 3) The tightening of LCC cancer relevance policy to enhance cancer focus. Dr. Platanias and the Senior Leadership recently created the new 2023-2028 LCC Strategic Plan, building upon LCC’s existing strong foundations and unique institutional strengths. The overarching goal of the new plan is to drive discoveries that transform cancer care across the cancer continuum to improve the health of the communities served by the LCC, and to better integrate with network sites to deliver novel clinical trials to the community. Specific objectives and tactics are informed through bidirectional communication with the community advisory board.