I hope everybody had an enjoyable summer, and had the chance to recharge their batteries a bit. While I have been pretty busy over the past few months I took a bit of time off in August as well, so I am long overdue for a blog entry. My recent trip to South Korea was remarkable and fascinating, and I’ve posted a couple of photos here for your enjoyment. It was nice to find a Phillies fan at a baseball game in Seoul, and although the shirt was the wrong color, he apparently (and most probably, unknowingly) roots for the “right” football team, too! Although I was called back early from my trip due to a family emergency that fortunately resolved, I have returned to work feeling energized, focused and ready for a busy fall season.
As I’ve previously communicated, we were notified unofficially a few months ago that our CCSG funding would be reduced by 50% and that the grant would be renewed for three years rather than the five years we had requested. In what came as no surprise, this week we received the confirmatory official notification of grant award from the NCI. So, we remain funded and have retained our Comprehensive status. However, we must plan to submit a competitive renewal in about two years.
Moving forward, our biggest and most immediate challenge will be to develop a decisive plan of action to respond to our recent CCSG evaluation. I have already begun this process, soliciting the help and input of leadership from Lombardi, GUMC, our External Scientific Advisory Board and the University. Over the coming months, we will work to address the specific criticisms raised by the site review team. I will need everyone’s help as we pull together in a process of honest and unflinching self-evaluation to ensure that our science and our organizational structure are strong and meet the expectations of the next set of CCSG reviewers.
I look forward to sharing more details about this process at our upcoming Town Hall meeting on September 28 at noon. Look out for reminders about the Town Hall in your inbox.
In other news, we have two new members of the Lombardi team to welcome. Lauren Wolkoff, our new director of communications, replaced Allison Whitney as of August 18. Lauren comes to us from Georgetown’s Office of Advancement, where she worked on the Marketing and Communications team to produce and edit GUMC fundraising materials. Among other projects, Lauren was also editor of Georgetown Medicine magazine. While she is not new to Georgetown, she is new to Lombardi so I encourage you to welcome her and fill her in on your projects. She can be reached at ext. 72960 or at lw263@georgetown.edu.
We are also happy to welcome Bob Brier as director of grant services for Lombardi. Bob will be filling the role previously held by Maureen McMahon, directing the pre-award process for all grants and contracts submitted by Lombardi PIs. Bob moved to Washington from Boston, where he previously worked as department administrator for the Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He also served as the administrative director for the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard School of Public Health. Bob started September 8; please stop by to welcome him. He can be reached at ext. 77787 or by email at rab262@georgetown.edu.
As you can see, there’s a lot going on right now. I look forward to connecting with many of you at the Town Hall later this month. Until then, enjoy the sense of renewal and excitement that comes with fall (not to mention the cooler weather!).
