Faculty Initiatives

The initiatives offered through the Office of Faculty Development include an integrated portfolio of leadership training, grant writing support, and structured career development programs designed to equip faculty and trainees across the Consortium with the skills, mentorship, and resources needed for long-term academic success.

Faculty Leadership Academy

The Faculty Leadership Academy is a nine-month mentorship program designed for faculty within the Fred Hutch/University of Washington/Seattle Children's Cancer Consortium who are interested in further developing their leadership skills. The overarching goal of this program is to support the development of the next generation of Consortium leaders.

This program will individually pair participants with appropriate mentors and will require participation in monthly workshops (October-June) and monthly meetings with mentors. Workshop topics will include communication, adaptive leadership, team building and more. Participants will also be responsible for developing and leading a new initiative or program as part of this academy. Individuals participating in the program will receive 5% salary support for a nine-month period and funding will be available for professional development and as needed to support new initiatives/programs.

This program is open to all Fred Hutch faculty and all Cancer Consortium members at UW or Seattle Children's. Faculty at all ranks are eligible to apply.

The third application cycle for this program will open in Summer 2026 and start in Fall 2026.

Faculty Grant Writing Workshop

Launching in February 2026, the Faculty Grant Writing Workshop will be co-led by Johnnie Orozco, MD, PhD, and Chris Li, MD, PhD. This eight-session, bi-weekly series is designed to help strengthen NIH and foundation grant proposals through practical strategies, best practices and active workshopping with peers.

Faculty can register for the full series or individual sessions based on their goals. Participants who attend multiple sessions will benefit from peer feedback, opportunities to strengthen their own drafts of grant elements, and guidance from experienced faculty and their teams who have successfully secured external funding.

The series will emphasize learning by doing, with opportunities to draft, revise and refine key proposal sections over time with input from peers.

Didactic sections of each session will be recorded.

Series Schedule & Topics

Course Overview, Writing a Compelling Specific Aims Page, Collaborating with Philanthropy Partners and Submission Processes

Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Speaker: Dr. Johnnie Orozco

  • Anatomy of the Specific Aims page and targeting RFAs

Speakers: Mallory Smith and Katrina Welch-Reardon (Foundation Relations Team)

  • Maximizing Foundation Relations partnerships

Panelists: Katie Ahlgren, Jaime Hicks and Shama Samant

  • Understanding grant mechanisms and internal processes

Effective Writing and Scientific vs. Lay Abstracts

Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Speaker: Deborah Banker, PhD

  • Writing with clarity and purpose
  • Crafting abstracts for different audiences

Significance and Innovation Sections

Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Panelists: Bill Grady, MD, Harmit Malik, PhD, and Burcu Darst, PhD

  • Highlighting the importance of your research
  • Building strong collaborations and feasibility

Approach to Biosketches

Speakers: Melissa Vaught, PhD, and Alysia vandenBerg, PhD (Institute of Translational Health Sciences)

  • Optimizing opportunities in biosketches

Research Strategy

Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Panelists: Riki Peters, PhD, MPH, Alice Berger, PhD, and Hans Peter Kiem, MD, PhD

  • Elements of a strong research strategy
  • Demonstrating scientific rigor and impact

Speaker: Dr. Johnnie Orozco

  • Strategizing Collaborators

Engagement with Patient Advocate

Date: Thursday, April 9, 2026

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Panelists: Teri Pollastro, Marty Chakoian, Kaley Karaffa and Jay Mendoza, MD, PhD

  • Best practices for patient advocate engagement

ESI Statements

Speaker: Dr. Johnnie Orozco

  • Maximizing opportunities for early-stage investigators 

Maximizing Relationships with Program Officers

Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Time: 3:00-4:30 p.m.

Speakers: Joanne Elena, PhD, MPH (American Cancer Society)

  • Identifying other ways to work with Program Officers

Maximizing relationships with Foundations

Mallory Smith and Katrina Welch (Foundation Relations)

  • Working with Foundation Relations

Grant Resubmissions

Date: Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Panelists: TBD

  • Managing updates, revisions and resubmissions of grant proposals
  • The importance of being responsive

Admin Support in Non-Scoring Elements and Post-Awarding Processes

Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Panel: Katie Ahlgren, Jamie Hicks and Shama Samant

  • The importance of teamwork and coordination

Non-Score Impacting Elements & Post-Submission

Speaker: Dr. Johnnie Orozco

  • Facilities, environment and equipment sections

Foresight for Fellows Series

Under the guidance of Christina Termini, PhD, MM, Foresight for Fellows is a new initiative launching in 2026 to support the career development of current and aspiring postdocs. The series features five interactive presentations led by faculty mentors from across the country. Topics include:

  • Dissecting postdoctoral training (interactive panel with Fred Hutch faculty)
  • Mentee-ship and mentorship (Kara McKinley, PhD, Harvard University)
  • Preparing to pursue postdoctoral funding (Jaye Gardiner, PhD, Tufts University)
  • Building a mentoring network (Chrystal Starbird, PhD, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill)
  • Leveraging organizational tools to maximize productivity (Dequina Nicholas, PhD, University of California, Irvine)

Sessions will be held on January 8, February 26, March 12, April 9 and May 14, 2026, from 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. PT in-person at Fred Hutch and are open to scientists at all levels.