PROJECT SUMMARY – ADMINISTRATION The Salk Cancer Center (SCC) has a longstanding tradition of exceptional basic and translational science research. SCC Administration (ADMIN) provides critical infrastructure and carries out a diverse set of functions to ensure that all SCC activities run smoothly and efficiently. Toward this goal, ADMIN supports the SCC Director, Deputy Directors, Program Leaders, Shared Resources (SRs), SCC members, External Advisory Board (EAB) members, external stakeholders engaged in cancer research, training/education programs, and diversity outreach efforts. During the current funding period, ADMIN has undergone a major transformation to improve its impact, value, efficiency, and alignment with CCSG guidelines. Outcomes: Under the strong leadership of SCC Director Reuben Shaw and Deputy Director for Research Administration Leona Flores, PhD, ADMIN achieved many accomplishments over this grant period. These include: 1) helping to develop and implement a new Strategic Plan, 2) coordinating a major restructuring of the organizational leadership and the two SCC Research Programs presented in this application, 3) providing central programmatic leadership and coordination to foster and improve collaboration and facilitate communication between SCC investigators, Programs, projects, Shared Resources (SRs), and other Center participants, 4) reorganizing and expanding the ADMIN staff structure with expertise in finance, SR management, grants administration, data analytics, and communications, 5) revamping SCC Program membership to enhance cancer focus, 5) strengthening efforts to improve reporting on grants, publications, pilot awards, and budgets, 6) providing support to recruit and onboard new external faculty, and 7) coordinating ramp-down and resumption of SCC activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the next grant period, ADMIN will continue to execute the initiatives within the new SCC 2023-2028 Strategic Plan by providing critical support to: hasten the pace of cancer discovery; recruit new high-impact, collaborative faculty; increase the impact of training and education; implement diversity, inclusion, and URM outreach efforts to diversify the SCC workforce; and foster new team science grants through targeted RFAs and administrative activities that foster new collaborations. ADMIN supports all governance and programmatic meetings and retreats. It is responsible for general administrative services; financial management; information technology and systems development; strategic, program and technology planning; and research resources management. SCC ADMIN is recognized as an independent entity within Salk Institute, equivalent to that of a department, and works closely with other offices within the Salk Institute, including Finance, Grants Development, Human Resources, Information Technology, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Education Outreach, the Chief Science Officer, and External Relations to facilitate the vision and goal...