LEADERSHIP, PLANNING, AND EVALUATION: ABSTRACT The University of Arizona Cancer Center (UACC) aspires to serve as the trusted source and greatest hope for cancer patients and caregivers. This will be accomplished through high-impact collaborative research and transdisciplinary translational discoveries that help reduce cancer risk and enhance outcomes. UACC’s vision is to be a national leader for overcoming cancer risks, improving treatments, training talented scientists and providers, and engaging communities though a shared determination to discover, innovate, and remove social inequities. This vision is realized through the mission, which is to alleviate the burden of cancer on patients and families within UACC’s five-county Catchment Area and beyond through: (1) a quest for scientific discovery through interdisciplinary collaboration and team science; (2) increasing access to cutting-edge approaches to care during a patient’s cancer journey; (3) preparing generations of researchers and health professionals to fight each day against cancer and the inequities affecting underserved populations; and (4) providing national leadership in engaging populations with respect, consistency, and shared conviction. In June 2020, Joann Sweasy, PhD, was appointed as the Center’s Director. Over the project period, four new Associate Directors and three Interim Associate Directors were appointed to the Center’s senior leadership team. Upon becoming Director, Sweasy launched a highly engaged strategic planning process and developed the 2020– 2025 Strategic Plan, entitled Bear Down on Cancer, which will guide the Center for the next 5 years. The UACC Executive Council, comprised of the Director and Associate Directors, is responsible for the implementation and continuous evaluation of the Strategic Plan. Planning and Evaluation is further supported at the institutional level by its senior leaders, Deans of Colleges, and Institute Directors, along with the UACC’s Academic Medical Partner, Banner Health – Tucson. Progress toward meeting the Center’s strategic goals is also evaluated by the Center’s External Advisory Board and Community Advisory Board as well as by ad hoc experts. Additional internal advisory committees that support Planning and Evaluation activities include the Executive Leadership Council, Scientific Leadership Council, Shared Resource Oversight Committee, Clinical Research Oversight Council, and Internal Advisory Councils of UACC’s Community Outreach and Engagement and Cancer Research Training & Education Coordination.