Senior Leadership

Ohio State University, Columbus OH

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

9.1 SENIOR LEADERSHIP In 1999 the OSUCCC Senior Leadership Team consisted of Clara D. Bloomfield, M.D. as Director, David E. Schuller, M.D. as Deputy Director, Gary D. Stoner, Ph.D. as Associate Director for Basic Research, Michael A. Caligiuri, M.D. as Associate Director for Clinical Research, and Ms. Kathleen Colby as Associate Director for Administration. At that time, the Senior Leadership was commended by the NCI review committee for significant, positive changes within the OSUCCC, including major restructuring, reduction in the number of research programs from 13 to 7, reduction in the number of shared resources from 9 to 6, recruitment of new leaders for several programs, and a paring of the number of OSUCCC members from 230 to 201 while recruiting a large number of new faculty including several distinguished senior investigators that in turn increased philanthropic and peer-reviewed research support. Also noted were early efforts to strengthen the clinical research infrastructure, to solidify the clinical scientific review system, and to facilitate stronger clinical and translational research. Overall, the changes in Senior Leadership made 18 months prior to the last CCSG submission in 1999 were viewed as very strong. The only shortcoming noted was the absence of an Associate Director for Cancer Prevention and Control. A merit descriptor of "excellent" was awarded. Dr. Bloomfield recruited Jeff Walker, M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh where he was the administrator for the Division of Hematology/Oncology, as the OSUCCC Associate Director of Administration following the retirement of Ms. Kathleen Colby in 2001. For a documentation of Mr. Walker's experience and leadership role in the OSUCCC, please refer to Section 10.6, Administration. Dr. Bloomfield recruited Electra Paskett, Ph.D. to become the OSUCCC Associate Director for Population Sciences and the Marion N. Rowley Professor of Cancer Research within The OSU School of Public Health in January, 2002. Dr. Paskett is the former Director of the Cancer Control Program at Wake Forest University CCC, member of the NCI Initial Review Group-Subcommittee A, and current Chair of the Cancer Control and Health Outcomes Committee in the Cancer and Leukemia Group B. She is a widely recognized cancer epidemiologist with particular emphasis in cancer etiology and cancer control research in women. She has already added substantial depth to the Senior Leadership team along with new recruits and peer-reviewed NCI programmatic funding. Dr. Bloomfield stepped down as OSUCCC Director in June 2003 as did Dr. Stoner, Associate Director for Basic Research, both to stay within the OSUCCC and to focus on their research programs in the final stage of their professional careers. Dr. Bloomfield has now been appointed as Senior Advisor to the OSUCCC and as the charter member of the OSU Cancer Scholars Program that provides a 1:1 dollar match to the Scholar for CCSG-approved cancer research funding. Dr. Stoner now co-leads the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention (MCC) Program with Steve Clinton, M.D., Ph.D., and has been provided $3.5 M from the OSUCCC to establish a premier basic and translational chemoprevention program as a component of the Division of Hematology-Oncology. Dr. Caligiuri, formerly the OSUCCC Associate Director for Clinical Research and Leader of the Immunology Program from 1997-2003, was recruited by Fred Sanfilippo, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, and Karen H. Holbrook, Ph.D., President of OSU, to the leadership role as OSUCCC Director in April, 2003 with an effective start date of July 1, 2003. Dr. Caligiuri is an established basic and translational cancer researcher in immunology and in leukemia. He will continue along the path of his predecessor in strengthening basic science, prevention, translational and clinical cancer research at the center, now with substantially more resources from the University. Dr. Caligiuri has also assumed the role as Deputy Director for the James Cancer Hospital (JCH) and a new position, Vice President of Health Sciences for Cancer Programs, described below. He has relinquished his duties as Director of the Division of Hematology-Oncology to Gregory Otterson, M.D. (Interim Director) while a search for a new Director is undertaken. The change in OSUCCC Director (Bloomfield) and two Associate Directors (Stoner and Caligiuri), brought two new Senior Leadership opportunities (Dr. David Schuller remains as the Deputy Director for the OSUCCC). With the approval of the OSUCCC Executive Committee and discussion with our External Scientific Advisory Board, Dr. Caligiuri appointed William E. Carson, III, M.D., as the Associate Director for Clinical Research, September 2003. Dr. Carson is an NCI-funded breast surgeon with an active basic and translational cancer research program in immunology, including 8 investigator-initiated trials on which he is PI. He is also the Chair of the OSU Cancer IRB. In September 2003, again with Executive Committee approval, Dr. Caligiuri appointed Michael D. Lairmore, D.V.M., Ph.D. to succeed Dr. Stoner as Associate Director for Basic Research. Dr. Lairmore is Professor and Chair of the Department of Veterinary Biosciences within the College of Veterinary Medicine and PI on NCI R01 and P01 awards that focus on the role of HTLVI in the pathogenesis of human T cell leukemia. Together, Drs. Caligiuri, Schuller, Paskett, Carson, Lairmore and Mr. Walker form the core of the Senior Leadership that directs the growth and mission of the OSUCCC. The OSUCCC Senior Leadership meets, two times a month or more frequently as an OSUCCC Executive Committee, chaired by Dr. Caligiuri. The Executive Committee also includes 1) Stanley Lemeshow, Ph.D., Director of the OSU Center for Biostatistics, OSUCCC Biostatistics Core, and Dean, School of Public Health, 2) Mr. Dennis Smith, Administrative Director for the James Cancer Hospital, 3) Clara Bloomfield, M.D., Ohio Cancer Scholar and Senior Advisor. The Executive Committee is the major decision making body of the OSUCCC, responsible for the on-going oversight of the OSUCCC, addressing all functional issues raised by its members and university leaders (see Essential Characteristics, 5.3.1). Separately, Drs. Caligiuri, Bloomfield and Schuller as well as Mr. Dennis Smith and Mr. Jeff Walker meet every other week as the OSUCCC/James Coordination Committee to focus on issues that directly involve the relationship between the OSUCCC and the James Cancer Hospital. As was noted in last review, the OSUCCC had started on a new trajectory of renewed growth under the leadership of Dr. Bloomfield. Now, as the OSUCCC enters its 30th year, the current Senior Leadership Team is responsible for coordinating considerable growth of the Center, including facilitation of outstanding basic research programs, inter- and intra-programmatic collaboration, guiding translational and clinical research efforts, education and community outreach and provision of appropriate Shared Resource facilities. It is also responsible for developing and executing long-term vision and strategic planning for the Center, and towards the NCI goal to reduce morbidity and mortality from cancer. The changes that have occurred during the last funding cycle within the OSUCCC have been dramatic in terms of growth, but the path and vision that had been put in place by Dr. Bloomfield remain without major restructuring. We have collectively worked to recruit over 90 cancer researchers and clinicians during this funding cycle, have nearly doubled our NCI and CCSGapproved cancer funding with several new programmatic grants, have seen over a 230% increase in accruals to therapeutic investigator-initiated clinical trials, and have doubled our patient volume. As the number of cancer-focused basic, translational, clinical and population investigators at the OSUCCC has grown, the Shared Resources required to accommodate the collective needs of the membership have also grown from 8 in 1999 (including 2 developed into full resources), to 13 in 2003 with 3 more now in development.