Strategic Plan

Over the past year, the Cancer Research Institute (CRI) developed a strategic plan for expansion to Lake Nona, the future site for the University of Central Florida (UCF) College of Medicine, UCF Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, the Burnham Medical Research Institute, a veteran’s hospital and many other institutions and companies. As the basic and translational research hub for M. D. Anderson – Orlando, the CRI’s mission is “to use every available resource to defeat cancer.” The long-range strategic vision is to assist M.D. Anderson – Orlando in obtaining a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation by fulfilling the rigorous research requirements of obtaining $4 million dollars in peer reviewed grant funding annually.

The CRI has been active over the past year in recruiting world-class cancer research leaders. The CRI team now consists of 16 direct team members and many collaborative team members that have secured more than
$5 million in funding since its inception. However, the CRI’s goal of employing 22 doctorate (PhD) scientists and staff by 2012 is still ongoing.

The success of the CRI lies entirely in the vision and talent of its team of cancer research scientists. No single tactic is more important to NCI designation than recruiting up-and-coming and established scientists whose research will bring notoriety and ultimately funding to the CRI.

The CRI revenue is derived from three sources: 1) grant funding 2) industry sponsored contracts and 3) philanthropy. The CRI operational costs are wholly offset by these funding sources.

CRI and Lake Nona

Relocating the CRI to Lake Nona’s “Medical City” is a tangible and rational tactic toward ensuring research collaboration with its Central Florida colleagues – the Burnham Medical Research Institute, UCF, the University of Florida and other biomedical organizations staking their future in this development. The facility will provide expanded space for its scientists and promote the CRI as a leader in the Central Florida research arena.

The UCF Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences is under construction at Lake Nona and will be completed by the fall of 2009. M. D. Anderson – Orlando and the Burnett School have written a lease agreement, which allows the CRI to occupy approximately 30,000 sq. ft. of the Burnett School building for five years during which a capital campaign will be conducted to raise monies to construct a free-standing 100,000 sq. ft. cancer research facility adjacent to the UCF College of Medicine.