PROJECT SUMMARY – LEADERSHIP, PLANNING AND EVALUATION The last budget cycle of Wistar’s Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) has brought about sweeping changes in every segment of the Cancer Center. These include the recruitment of 10 new Cancer Center members at all academic ranks, appointment of new scientific and operational leadership, realignment of scientific Programs for optimal collaboration and research impact, and successful inter-institutional partnerships with neighboring academic Institutions. The result was transformational for the Cancer Center, bringing peer- reviewed, cancer-related funding to $12.4 million, National Cancer Institute (NCI) funding to an all-time high of $8.9 million (direct costs only), an exceptionally strong cancer focus of 76%, and a uniquely collaborative model for basic and translational cancer research, where over 40% of discovery publications and 75% of funding in Cancer Center Programs are the product of multi-investigator collaborations. Inter-institutional partnerships that were presented as developmental during the 2013 CCSG renewal have now fully matured, tangibly advancing Cancer Center goals in the areas of graduate education, undergraduate workforce development, early-stage academic drug discovery, and patient-focused translational cancer research. These advances could not have been possible without the careful planning, meticulous implementation and timely evaluation of programmatic objectives by Cancer Center leadership and a host of non-overlapping, consultative committees. Upholding principles of transparency, inclusiveness, and opportunity-driven decision- making in the pursuit of scientific excellence, Cancer Center leadership and planning and evaluation committees worked well together, setting priorities for research and operational tasks, monitoring timelines of implementation and gauging their impact in support of the long-term scientific objectives of the Cancer Center. Together, this led to the conceptualization and launch of a new, 2015 Reimagining Wistar Strategic Plan. The result of an inclusive and highly consultative effort, the Plan provides an actionable roadmap for the growth of Wistar’s scientific enterprise, alignment of research and administrative goals on shared, synergistic objectives, and introduction of sweeping institutional changes in support of research goals. Cancer Center leadership and planning and evaluation committees will continue on this successful path of integration, strategic prioritization and timely monitoring of research and operational tasks during the next CCSG budget cycle. This process will guide the full synergistic integration of Institute and Cancer Center goals, development of an institute-wide hub for basic and translational immunology research and further establishment of an innovative, early-stage cancer drug discovery effort.