Getting specific
The Strategic Plan is not just about ideals and goals. The lion's share of its 100-plus pages spell out initiatives and programs to be implemented over the next five years. These items encompass the entire Institute and will touch everyone treated or employed here. We've divided them into four categories, and I'd like to briefly describe some highlights of each one.
Discovery — Late last year, we opened a Center for Cancer Systems Biology to focus on the interactions among genes. Researchers there will explore links between cancer cells and normal ones and the effects of cancer-related proteins inside and outside tumor cells. Other DFCI investigators will work in the emerging field of computational biology, which makes computer simulations of life processes. Also slated for additional support is the field of population sciences, which deals with cancer trends in large communities. Particular emphasis will be given to overcoming disparities in cancer rates and treatment among different racial, ethnic, and economic groups.
The Institute's renewed commitment to "translational research," which applies laboratory findings to the quest for new treatments, in no way de-emphasizes basic science. Quite the contrary: the stronger our fundamental laboratory work, the more vigorous our efforts for putting it to practical use — a fact we recognize with additional support for basic research. Efforts to develop better laboratory and animal models of cancer and to devise cancer vaccines are a priority as well.
Patient Care — The Institute will intensify efforts to create a "seamless" system of care with its two main clinical partners, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital Boston, in which our services blend fully with theirs. We have formed a planning committee with BWH to build a service that is a model for the treatment of adults with cancer and is financially self-sustaining. With Children's, we are working on a new program focusing on cancer in young adults.
The involvement of patients and families will be crucial in all these initiatives. Their input laid the foundation for the Center for Patient Safety that opened two years ago and will be expanded, and their views will help guide the growth of our clinical facilities in the years ahead.
Application — The importance we're attaching to bench-to-bedside research is embodied in a new Center for Clinical and Translational Research. It will bring to patients the newest drugs developed by pharmaceutical companies, support investigators seeking to set up clinical trials, and provide a laboratory for analyzing the effectiveness of new experimental treatments. We are designing new training programs and career paths for young scientists interested in pursuing translational research. And, with Brigham and Women's, we also intend to establish a Joint Center for Molecular Experimental Pathology, which will enable us to learn as much as possible from animal models of cancer and other diseases.
Focus — The motive behind all these initiatives is to bring the Institute into full alignment with the goal of its Strategic Plan: the conquest of one or more forms of cancer in the next decade. Our aim, in a sense, is to re-engineer Dana-Farber so all its parts vibrate in unison. The result will be what we've dubbed a "model cancer center," an example of what can be accomplished when an entire organization is driven by a common purpose and pursues its mission relentlessly and urgently.
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