The U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) is part of the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NCI's main responsibilities include coordinating the National Cancer Program; conducting and supporting cancer-related research; training physicians and scientists; and disseminating state-of-the-art information about cancer detection, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, control, palliative care , and survivorship . Most of NCI's budget is used to fund grants and contracts to universities, medical schools, cancer centers, research laboratories, and private firms in the United States and about 60 other countries around the world. The Office of Science Planning and Assessment (OSPA), as part of NCI's Office of the Director, is primarily responsible for the development and coordination of NCI's scientific planning and evaluation activities.

NCI and NIH are committed to promoting diversity in the community of individuals who participate in all aspects of biomedical research, including evaluation of biomedical research and development programs. For years, the NCI Office of Science Planning and Assessment has shown a strong commitment to providing training experiences for individuals in a variety of career development programs.  It has hosted participants in the following programs: Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program; Emerging Leaders Program (ELP); NCI Health Communications Interns; AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellows; NCI Administrative Career Development (ACD) program; and NCI Cancer Research Training Award (CRTA) program. It commonly has from one to three interns or fellows in its office at any one time. Enhancing evaluation capacity is a core component of the mission of the Office of Science Planning and Assessment and the NCI is commited to increasing workforce diversity: the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Evaluation Fellow Program supports these priorities.

Placement Mentor - Lawrence Solomon has over 20 years of experience in program evaluation and public policy analysis. The major portion of this experience is in the program areas of public health and scientific research. Larry has been affiliated with NCI’s Office of Science Planning and Assessment’s Program Assessment Branch since September 2005. In his role as a senior health science analyst, he participates in a wide range of evaluation and assessment activities. Larry provides consultation and reviews of NCI evaluation proposals submitted to the NIH Evaluation Office for funding consideration. Prior to joining NCI, Larry served as a senior health research evaluator for the NIH Office of Evaluation where he served as a consultant, facilitator, and technical reviewer of evaluation research proposals submitted by the agency’s institutes and centers. In this role, he gained an NIH-wide perspective on how evaluations are designed and implemented. Before joining the NIH, Larry served as a senior analyst for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) where he directed and conducted multiple evaluations of public health and environmental programs at the request of the U.S. Congress. He also has served as a researcher at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Larry holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from North Carolina State University. He also holds a B.S. in Business Administration, a B.A. in Sociology, and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Placement Supervisor - James Corrigan joined the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Office of Science Planning and Assessment (OSPA) as chief of the Program Assessment Branch in 2001. He has over 25 years of experience relevant to the evaluation and analysis of scientific research program performance. Jim has held evaluation-related positions in two other components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH): the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR); and the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Prior to joining the NIH, Jim worked as a senior analyst with a private sector firm that specialized in research using bibliometric methods to evaluate scientific and technological performance on the basis of scientific publication and patent data. Early in his career, Jim served as a research scientist on an NIH grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). His academic training is in psychology, with a Ph.D. from the University of Delaware, and M.A. and B.A. degrees from St. Bonaventure University. He is a member of the American Evaluation Association (AEA), and a senior fellow of the Council for Excellence in Government.

Placement Mentor - Larry Solomon

Placement Supervisor - James Corrigan