A NEW RESEARCH STRATEGIC PLAN FOR SUNY UPSTATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY
CANCER WORKING GROUP REPORT
UPSTATE RESEARCH STRATEGIC PLANNING 2020 Mehdi Mollapour (chair), Teresa Gentile, Steve Graziano, Jessica Henty-Ridilla, Christine King, Leszek Kotula, Stewart Loh, Megan Oest, Chris Turner, Mariano Viapiano Abbreviations: CC=Cancer Center, CCRP=Cancer Center Research Program, NCI=National Cancer Institute, UCC=Upstate Cancer Center OVERVIEW: A unified vision to advance Upstate cancer research towards better patient care. The Research Strategic Plan below aligns cancer research programs at Upstate with the current goals of the Upstate Cancer Center via the creation of either an Institute or Department of Cancer Biology. The success of these recommendations hinge on the hiring of a Director for the Cancer Center. This currently vacant position is critical for final decisions in several strategic plan initiatives including: communication and integration of research initiatives with other departments at Upstate, hiring (i.e. navigating/matching hires in basic science departments with cancer center initiatives), negotiating adequate protected research time for clinicians, aligning tools in core facilities with current research strengths, and ultimately the vision to obtain NCI Cancer Center designation. Such a Director should have credibility in the cancer field to steer UCC towards NCI designation. 1. Current Strengths Translational & Basic Science Research: SUNY Upstate established a Cancer Center Research Program (CCRP) in 2016 with the goal of strengthening cancer-related research resources and activities. Since its inception, the CCRP has developed a number of initiatives, such as: A. Pursuing faculty hires with a focus on cancer research B. Identifying equipment needs and securing funds to purchase shared instrumentation C. Inviting external speakers and maintaining a seminar series with focus on cancer research D. Establishing multidisciplinary research programs to leverage existing expertise at Upstate. These programs currently include: i. Tumor Microenvironment & Invasion Program: focused on the mechanisms of cancer initiation, progression, and therapeutic resistance ii. Translational Program in Urologic Cancers: focused on the mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of urologic malignancies
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