PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT LEADERSHIP, PLANNING, AND EVALUATION Executive Director Suresh Ramalingam, MD, provides the overall strategic direction for Winship and oversees a rigorous planning and evaluation process. Ramalingam established a strong leadership team whose members serve as trusted advisors and leaders to support the development and achievement of Winship's strategic goals. During the current funding period, this team has expanded to include key experts for community outreach and engagement (COE), diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and training and education (CRTEC). The Winship executive team is now composed of the Executive Director, Deputy Director, five associate directors, a Chief Diversity Officer, five senior advisors, and two at-large positions. Together the leadership team has led the continued growth in Winship's research programs, shared resources, clinical research, and clinical operations. Continuous planning and evaluation efforts as implemented through Winship's Strategic Plan have fostered growth across the cancer research enterprise with increasing numbers of basic cancer research projects translating into investigator-initiated clinical trials, increased clinical trials enrollment supporting the state of Georgia catchment area, and expansion of team science with successful programmatic grant submissions including lung SPORE, P01, and a myeloma SCOR award. Winship is guided by internal and external experts including an External Advisory Board (EAB), which is composed of a renowned group of cancer center directors, program leaders, researchers, and administrators from other NCI-designated cancer centers across the country. The EAB is charged to provide critical evaluation of Winship's progress on an ongoing basis and guide the development and implementation of the strategic plan. The EAB meets annually at Winship to review and critique Winship's progress, plans, and major decisions. In addition, Winship also engages EAB members for input on important topics and key decisions throughout the year.