In the early 1960s there was a British import television news variety show called, “That Was the Week that Was.” For some reason I was reminded of that show when I sat down to compose this blog.
The week started innocently enough. Lucile Adams-Campbell won her age group in the Undy 5000 5K run for the Colon Cancer Alliance. Congratulations, Lucile, and remind me to never challenge you to a race! The weekend before last felt like the calm before a major storm. We were, of course, primed and completely ready to proceed with the Site Visit last Thursday. Like many of us, I was fretting a bit about the threatened government shutdown, but assumed there would be a resolution by October 3. But the Friday before last, we were informed that if the government shut down the site visit would be cancelled, since NCI personnel have to be there. As “non-essential” workers, they would be furloughed and explicitly prohibited from conducting any official business. So, we sat and waited…
Ironically, on September 29 Michael Vander Hoek and I participated in a panel discussion at the annual American Association of Cancer Institutes’ meeting in DC on how to prepare for competitive renewals and site visits using the new CCSG guidelines. By then, I was wondering if the government really would shut down, and started to resign myself to its growing likelihood. I spent Monday and Tuesday of last week at the GU Executive Committee retreat. By Tuesday morning, we had been notified that the site visit was cancelled and would be “expeditiously rescheduled.” Because of the furloughs, we were told to expect no further communications until the government reopens for business.
So we unwound our preparations, disappointed that all of our hard work had been derailed, albeit temporarily, by the madness on Capitol Hill. As you know, we had our little party in E501 on Thursday afternoon to celebrate the best site visit that never was. On that same day I was interviewed by NBC to comment on the impact of the shutdown on clinical research, and also was contacted by the Cancer Letter, which wanted to know about the impact of the shutdown on Cancer Centers. I have been pleased to contribute to the public dialogue regarding the shutdown, but would have preferred to have the site visit!
At this moment we don’t exactly know what comes next. When we are contacted by the NCI we will put together a plan. We certainly would like to have our site visit as soon as possible, because we have accomplished so much over the past four years and it is time for our colleagues around the country to see it for themselves.
That was the week that was. It’s over and it’s gone. Now it is time to get back to work!
