By Domarina Oshana, Ph.D. at 26 May 2017, 12:42 PM

I was pleased to be selected as a presenter at the 9^th Annual National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) conference in Colorado, May 8-10, 2017.

With the theme of “Creating Excellence Through Strategic
Research Development,” the NORDP conference and its membership provided a forum for understanding key trends in research funding, professional networking, training, and sharing of tools, methods, and best practices in research development (RD).  In this context,
I shined a light on Gateway’s approach to measuring and reporting the impact of its investments in cancer clinical trials.

Among an audience of professionals gathered with the aim of optimizing both individual and collective research enterprises, I was proud to convey the distinctive work we have done at Gateway to implement both a measurement and strategic approach to communicating a compelling narrative about Gateway’s impact, since its inception in 1991.

My primary aim during the presentation was to tell the story of how Gateway’s impact framework was developed, what it includes by way of outcomes, indicators, data sources, and collection methods, and the progress made, to date, collecting data to support Gateway’s impact. As I highlighted Gateway's clinical trials funding program and spoke of the dedicated people and rigorous process involved in developing and implementing Gateway’s impact framework, thoughtful questions were asked, such as “Would it be appropriate for applicants to address, within their grant applications to Gateway, the responsiveness of their approach to Gateway’s impact indicators?” and “How do you measure impact when the quality of life tools are variable?”

My presentation engaged Research Development professionals who support cancer clinical investigators in identifying and applying for grants to fund early phase clinical research. From what was left of the stack of Gateway’s funding guidelines and impact report, respectively, that I had brought to the session, I concluded that the session made a difference for, at least, a handful of Research Development Professionals. This experience reminded me of Mahatma Gandhi’s quote, “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”

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