2025 Research Retreat Postponed

O’Neal Members, Staff and Trainees,

We are all aware of the challenges facing biomedical research due to new policies regulating the NIH and NCI granting mechanisms. These policies have impacted O’Neal investigators and their ability to obtain extramural funding and the cancer center administrative processes related to the submission of our Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) competitive renewal in May 2026. Part of these administrative changes are that we will no longer have a site visit.

It has been our practice to forego the Cancer Center Research Retreat during CCSG renewal years, as this overlapped with the site visit. Given our need to institute new programs to support investigators and the change in the structure of the CCSG renewal, we have decided we will not hold the Cancer Center research retreat this year as planned. We are hopeful that we can hold the retreat in 2026 and going forward.

We realize that this is disappointing, but if we focus on adapting to the new regulations, I am optimistic that we can continue to advance our biomedical research enterprise. We will continue to find ways to foster collaboration and showcase our outstanding student, staff, and faculty research. Thank you for your understanding.

Barry Sleckman, M.D., Ph.D.