Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center (SCCC) utilizes the Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) developmental funds to invest in specific efforts that support the research goals of the Center’s overall strategic plan. During the current project period, a total of $590,000 of CCSG developmental funds was distributed for pilot funding in support of 23 research projects, and to date these investments have already yielded a $16M return on investment. More importantly, the SCCC Senior Leadership leveraged the CCSG developmental funds with other Center resources during the project period. In total, SCCC invested $5.3M in pilot awards since 2014, which can be directly linked to the successful award of $48.7M in extramural, multi-year grant funding. This is over a nine-fold yield from the combined investment. In the next project period, SCCC is requesting $410,000 annually in developmental funds, representing 11% of the total CCSG budget request. SCCC Senior Leadership will continue to support pilot projects, but in addition it also will be supporting up to 20% effort for one early-stage clinical investigator annually who will be charged with developing and launching an innovative investigator- initiated trial and maximizing SCCC’s participation in the National Cancer Institute’s National Clinical Trials Network.