The CCSG competitive renewal is all but done, and I must say that I am more than a bit pleased and relieved to be able to write that phrase! It has been an extraordinarily intense time, made easier by several factors. Firstly, the wonderful work of the Center has provided us with many wonderful accomplishments to share; I have highlighted some of them in recent blogs. Despite being in the midst of a historically challenging external funding environment, and with new rules and regulations that limit what we can claim as funding, our “Summary 2” funding has remained stable since 2009. Few cancer centers can claim such stability, and for this I am grateful for all of the wonderful work you do. Secondly, that funding has supported some truly outstanding science. And we have enjoyed remarkable support from Georgetown University that permitted us to continue to build the Lombardi of today. I am particularly grateful to Howard Federoff for his consistent support of our mission. Our partnership with MedStar Health has deepened, with simply outstanding support by Joy Drass and her colleagues for recruitments, facilities and expansion throughout the MedStar Washington region. And our External Advisory Commitee, chaired by Stan Gerson from Case Western Reserve, has been a source of wisdom and support throughout this whole process.
But at the end of the day, all organizations (and CCSGs) rise and fall on the strength of their people. And I am humbled by the hard work of Lombardi’s senior leadership, and in particular the tireless efforts of Carolyn Hurley, Ellen McLaughlin, Michael Vander Hoek, Mike Atkins and a host of stellar internal reviewers who have really held us all to the highest possible standards of description, messaging and accuracy. My particular thanks go out to Anna Riegel and Jeanne Mandelblatt for their remarkably perceptive and helpful reviews.
When I look back at the last four years I am struck by how much has changed at Lombardi, and how we have genuinely progressed in our sense of who we are, what we do and what we aim to accomplish. We now have four tightly constructed and coherent research programs, and support these programs with nine outstanding shared resources. We engage our community in new ways that reflect our genuine commitment to our catchment area. Our leadership structure has been refined and strengthened, and we have benefited from a large number of stellar senior and junior recruits who have enhanced existing strengths and allow us to expand into new areas where we can have high impact. We even can extend our impact beyond DC, as evidenced by HackensackUMC’s affiliation with us and its support of a reincarnated hematopoietic stem cell transplant program.
In a very real way, we are on the way to becoming the regional resource that we should be. The events that led to and then followed the acquisition of Georgetown University’s medical enterprise in 2000 had profound impacts on all aspects of health care and research on this campus. Lombardi was affected as well, as the insufficient alignment of research and clinical missions made it difficult for the Cancer Center to synthesize those missions in the manner expected by the NCI and by our community. Accordingly, the Lombardi I joined in late 2007 was more of a research institute with a connected but unintegrated clinical enterprise characterized by parallel rather than intersecting and mutually reinforcing activities. The recent creation of the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Network was accompanied by an emphasis on service to the broader catchment area with research-inspired clinical care and a very substantial investment of resources by MedStar Health to accomplish these goals. Our aspirations can now be accompanied by a certitude that the vision of what a comprehensive cancer center can be in our region is shared by Lombardi, GUMC and MedStar Health. The opportunities to transform the impact of cancer on our region and throughout the world have never been greater, and I am certain that we are up to the challenge.
I took a day off on Friday so I could spend the weekend with Harriet, our new granddaughter and her parents. I plan to do the same this coming Friday too. I don’t know that this qualifies as a true vacation but I can think of no better way to celebrate the end of a long march than to hold Ella in my arms. Speaking of long marches, I very much regretted that the trip required that I miss the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, which concluded today. Avon presented our team with a check for $250,000 to support the work of CBCC — and Wanda Lucas was there to accept it. Our Lombardi / CBCC team raised more than $145,000 — a new record — and magnificently represented our mission and values. Thanks again to Jeanne Mandelblatt for her leadership and inspiration. And thanks to MedStar Health for supporting our team with a $10,000 donation. A few photos are below.
The season of walks is not over, however. This Saturday, May 11 we still have the Komen Walk — our CBCC-led team is growing by the day. Check out our team page here.
