At the end of this month, Joan ("Kip") Goldberg will step down officially from her position as Chief Executive Officer of the NSABP Foundation and as Senior Director for NRG Oncology in the Pittsburgh office. Kip will continue to serve the NSABP Foundation as a consultant to its senior management team for the next year, providing continued access to her knowledge, experience, and advice.
Kip's executive career in healthcare management spanned the better part of five decades. Having extensive experience in executive management within several university-affiliated teaching hospitals, each conducting major programs in clinical research, Kip brought highly valuable healthcare administrative and business vision to the NSABP Foundation and to her responsibilities within NRG Oncology. She has been responsible for clinical research program development, financial management, government grants, institutional governance, and the professional development of staff. Kip was a pioneering leader in the establishment of the NSABP Foundation as an independent not-for-profit research institution as well as in the implementation of strategic planning, organizational structure, and operational administration in the founding of NRG Oncology.
When Kip formally joined the NSABP in 1998 as CEO, the organization had already cemented its reputation as one of the leading breast and colon cancer research groups in the world. Her leadership in transitioning the NSABP Foundation, the first example of a clinical research cooperative group's reorganization into an independent foundation, and the NSABP's subsequent participation within NRG Oncology was critical to both of these entities and helped to open the door for new directions and relationships with both government- and industry-sponsored cancer research.
Under Kip's guidance, the Pittsburgh Office of NRG has flourished and the NSABP Foundation has matured to the point that it currently has more than 50 clinical trials underway, in accrual, or recently completed. The NSABP Foundation has contributed significantly to better treatment options for patients and the improved understanding of cancer through clinical research and correlative science. The Foundation's pathology research efforts are dedicated to identifying targeted treatments for breast and colorectal cancer, and its biobank has been referred to as "a national treasure" by leaders at the National Cancer Institute.
A number of those who have worked with Kip over many years wanted to formally congratulate her on the occasion of her retirement and have written of their experiences of how Kip influenced their lives in many positive ways. Those remarks are included here.