Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Support Grant

ABSTRACT The Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC) is the only NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center based in the nation’s capital. Led by Louis M. Weiner MD since 2008, LCCC’s vision is to prevent and cure cancer with a local focus and global impact. Our mission is to prevent, treat, and cure cancers by linking scientific discovery, expert and compassionate patient care, quality education, and partnership with the community, guided by the principle of cura personalis, “care for the whole person.” LCCC’s strategic objectives are to 1) advance transformative cancer research, 2) reduce the impact of cancer and diminish disparities in our catchment area, 3) lead high-impact clinical research, 4) ensure long-term growth, vibrancy and stability of the research enterprise, and 5) develop the next generation of cancer scientists, clinicians and educators. These objectives were furthered by LCCC’s deepening relationship with the John Theurer Cancer Center (JTCC) of Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH), a clinical and clinical research powerhouse that brings a substantial research base and extends LCCC’s impact. With this P30 competitive renewal application LCCC is applying as a CCSG consortium with JTCC, which meets CCSG FOA external funding requirements. The LCCC Consortium is comprised of Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, based in Washington, DC (LCCC-DC) and the John Theurer Cancer Center of Hackensack Meridian Health, based in Hackensack, NJ (LCCC-NJ). Accordingly, the LCCC catchment area is defined by the LCCC-DC and LCCC-NJ catchment areas. LCCC research is based in four research programs: Breast Cancer (BC), Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC), Experimental Therapeutics (ET) and Molecular Oncology (MO). Crosscutting initiatives in data science, minority health and health disparities, cancer precision medicine, immunotherapy and cancer survivorship focus and support the work of these programs. During the current CCSG funding cycle, LCCC employed a robust strategic planning process to develop and refine its research. LCCC conducts research that is practice changing, paradigm shifting and policy informing, with 114 members publishing 1,390 papers (18% with IF>8) during the current CCSG funding period. Current cancer-focused annual direct cost funding for LCCC members is $36,696,492 (of which $3,282,510 is from members based at LCCC-NJ). LCCC had 2,165 interventional clinical trial accruals from 2014-2017 in its DC catchment area, which consists of more than four million people in DC and each surrounding county in Maryland and Virginia. LCCC’s Bergen County NJ catchment area contains nearly 1 million residents. LCCC has increased opportunities for clinical research and care by serving these large, racially and ethnically diverse catchment areas, which suffer from excess mortality from breast, prostate, pancreas and liver cancers. Future plans include expansion of research addressing catchment areas’ needs, with a particular emphasis on hematologic malignancies and cellular therapy translational and clinical research.