Project Funding Details

The Administrative Core is led by the U54's Principal Investigators, Ernest Martinez, Ph.D. (PI, University of California, Riverside [UCR]) and Victoria Seewaldt, M.D. (PI, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center [CoHCCC]). The overall mission of the Administrative Core is to facilitate the U54 UCR - CoH Comprehensive Cancer Center (CoHCCC) U54 partnership by providing high-quality scientific leadership, administrative support, and fiscal management. The Administrative core supports U54 planning, priority-setting, and implementation. The Core will support the ability of the External Advisory Board (EAB), Internal Advisory Board (IAB), and Community Advisory Board (CAB) to guide and provide advice and oversight of our U54. Our EAB members are national leaders and lead their own P20 and U54 grants focusing on eliminating disparities. EAB leaders include Robert Winn, M.D. (Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center), Laura Fejerman, Ph.D. (UC Davis), Lucio Miele, M.D. (LSU), and Melissa Simon, Ph.D. (Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center). Our IAB members are senior leaders at both UCR and CoHCCC. IAB leaders from UCR include Dr. Kelechi Kalu, Ph.D. and Vice Provost and Professor of Political Science; Dr. Frances Sladek, Professor of Cell Biology and Toxicology. IAB leaders from CoHCCC include Steven Forman, Ph.D., CoHCCC leader of CAR-T cell therapeutics program and Beckman Therapeutic Director; Linda Malkas, Ph.D., Dean of Translational Science and External Affairs. To ensure mentorship of the next generation of U54 leaders, we include on our IAB, two early-stage investigators (ESIs) serve on our IAB, this includes Jernej Murn, Ph.D., a basic investigator from UCR and Ana Tergas, M.D., a promising clinical trialist and Latina researcher from CoHCCC. Together, we will work with the Planning and Evaluation Core (PEC) and serve as the U54's oversight body. The IAB will meet with U54 leaders twice-year - or more frequently if needed - to provide strategic direction, policy development, and evaluation of our U54 Partnership Projects and Cores. The PEC, IAB, and EAB will perform yearly review of Full and Pilot projects and Cores. The CAB will evaluate projects and cores - particularly our Community Outreach Core and assess our ability to mentor and promote the careers of URM ESI. The EAB, IAB, and CAB will meet jointly with U54 project and core leaders to assess overall progress and ability to impact cancer health disparities and disparities in drug development and clinical trials.