# Leadership, Planning and Evaluation

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 2023 · $994,847

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY – Leadership, Planning, and Evaluation
At the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (NCCC), overall responsibility for planning and evaluation
rests with the Director, Caryn Lerman PhD, who sets the vision and strategic processes to intensify the growth
and impact of NCCC’s cancer research, training, and community impact. Lerman transformed the Senior
Leadership team with well-defined roles and responsibilities, enhancing the culture of engagement, input, and
continuous improvement. Advisory bodies include the Executive Committee, Research Leadership Council,
Strategic Planning Steering Committee, External Core Advisory Committee (new), Community Advisory Board
(new), and the External Advisory Board. Program, Cross-Program, and Center retreats foster team science and
drive the impact of NCCC research to address the cancer burden and disparities in our highly diverse catchment
area. Informed by these committees, Senior Leaders led several evaluation and transformation processes during
this cycle, including: 1) development of a new NCCC Strategic Plan (SP); 2) reassessment of NCCC membership
to improve cancer focus; 3) restructuring of Research Programs to achieve the goals of the SP and foster
transdisciplinary collaboration and impact; 4) evaluation of Shared Resources, resulting in closure of three
facilities and addition of two new Shared Resources (one newly implemented and one in development); 5)
creation of new Offices for Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) and Cancer Research Training and
Education Coordination (CRTEC); and 6) introduction of a Cancer Service Line Executive Committee and a new
Funds Flow model to NCCC. Building upon the prior strategic plan, Senior Leaders led a Center-wide process
culminating in the NCCC Strategic Plan (2020-2025). Selected achievements in aligned initiatives include: 1)
recruitment of 40 new leading scientists in the current grant period; 2) greater Senior Leadership involvement in
clinical trials, with growth in interventional accruals to 1171 in 2019 (increased from 816 in 2015) and strong
enrollment of minorities (61.6% of interventional trial accruals); 3) integration of catchment-relevant research into
all NCCC research programs and attainment of $10M of funding for cancer disparities research; 4) investment
of $8M in a new Translational Team Science Accelerator Program to catalyze paradigm-changing cancer
science; 5) deployment of a process to prioritize advancement of novel potential targets and biomarkers, with
ten novel potential therapeutic targets now in various stages of development; 6) procurement of a $20M+
investment to construct and staff a cGMP facility to fuel immunotherapy research; 7) development of a new
Population Research Shared Resource and expansion of the Data Science Shared Resource to include
bioinformatics; and 8) creation of a new translational cancer genomics platform and enhancements to the
Molecular Genomics Core, now an NCI-designated Genome Characte...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10620190
- **Project number:** 5P30CA014089-47
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **Principal Investigator:** CARYN LERMAN
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $994,847
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1996-12-01 → 2026-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10620190

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10620190, Leadership, Planning and Evaluation (5P30CA014089-47). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10620190. Licensed CC0.

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