Scientific Report 2005
Strategic Plan
Leading the Way to Conquer Cancer
Three years ago, under the leadership of Edward J. Benz Jr., MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute began a process of crafting a new Strategic Plan for Research. Envisioned as a five-year plan that would create the "model cancer center," it was intended to be a blueprint for the rational distribution of resources as the Institute moved toward accomplishing its mission of reducing and eventually eliminating the burden of cancer. After nearly a year of work, and with extensive input from a broad cross-section of Institute scientists, Dana-Farber's Strategic Plan, titled "Leading the Way to Conquer Cancer," was completed.
The plan includes a set of defining principles, one of which is that "DFCI shall maintain a balanced portfolio of research, clinical, outreach, and educational activities." Of course, the Institute already enjoys a long and enviable history of investigator-initiated research in the fundamental cellular and genetic processes that result in cancer, and it is essential that this tradition continue. However, the architects of the Strategic Plan understood the societal expectation that the enormous investment in cancer research made over the past 40 years should start paying dividends in the form of more effective and less toxic treatments for common and deadly cancers. Therefore, in addition to strong, ongoing support of fundamental research, another principle in the plan is that "DFCI reaffirms its commitment to medical research of the highest quality with a healthy balance between studies on basic mechanisms and studies more focused on the pathogenesis and therapy of cancer." The challenge for the strategic planners was to devise a system that could promote the application of our knowledge about cancer to its actual treatment, while being careful not to interfere with the basic science work that generates that knowledge.
Our solution to this problem is an innovative organizational structure in which a group of crosscutting, integrative research centers addresses discrete steps along the path from basic discovery to clinical application. The centers provide a mechanism for faculty from different departments and disciplines to focus their activities in specific, goal-oriented endeavors. Eight centers make up the heart of the Strategic Plan: the Center for Cancer Systems Biology, which is applying concepts and technologies of systems biology to cancer problems; the Center for Cancer Genome Discovery, which is working closely with the Broad Institute to identify genetic targets in cancer; the Center for Applied Cancer Science, which combines discovery of targets for cancer drugs with animal modeling and fast-track development of early-stage therapeutics; the Cancer Vaccine Center, which is taking novel approaches to the development and testing of cancer vaccines; the Center for Molecular Oncologic Pathology, which works closely with the Department of Pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital to bring cutting-edge techniques in pathological analysis to preclinical and clinical studies; the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, which, in collaboration with the Ludwig Center for Cancer Research, supports the efforts of clinical researchers in their investigation of novel cancer therapies; the Center for Population Sciences, which, along with associated cohort studies, defines optimal approaches to the prevention and treatment of cancer and the dissemination of these interventions to populations at large; and the Perini Family Survivors' Center, which examines the impact of cancer and its treatment on disease survivors.
In addition to the centers, the strategic planners instituted a group of initiatives to address the unique needs and concerns of specific populations: the Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program, which integrates clinical care with research on the biological and psychosocial needs of patients aged 15 to 40; the Cancer Health Disparities Program, which seeks to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in cancer screening, detection, treatment, and survivorship; and the Office of Postdoctoral Training and Career Development, which serves the needs of DFCI fellows and graduate students - the scientists and educators of the future. This section of the Scientific Report describes the work of the strategic centers and initiative programs in greater detail.
Results-Driven Research Complements Traditional Model
A conceptual cornerstone of the Strategic Plan centers is accountability. Unlike traditional, open-ended discovery efforts (which continue to be actively supported at Dana-Farber), the centers are held to a very high standard of ongoing review. For a center to receive its initial institutional funding, its leaders must prepare a detailed business and operating plan that lays out specific scientific goals for the center, the resources required to meet these goals, and the budget necessary to support the resources. After a careful evaluation process, the president may approve the plan, at which point first-year funding begins. Thereafter, center progress is evaluated by a process of continuing review using quantifiable metrics to assess whether the center is meeting its goals, allowing center leaders to make midcourse corrections to their programs, if necessary.
The center structure, along with its rigorous system of performance metrics, is not a typical academic research program. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is performing a large-scale experiment to determine if this kind of results-driven enterprise can "deliver the goods" while coexisting with the more traditional, open-ended, investigator-driven style of research. We feel that we owe it to our patients and to the American public, which has invested so heavily in cancer research, to bring relevant discoveries to the clinic as rapidly as we can. With the help of our talented investigators, who have enthusiastically endorsed this approach, we are optimistic that we will achieve this goal.
