From Assessment to Implementation: Building and Sustaining Expert Tumor Boards
Location
Philadelphia, PA
Start Date
17-4-2026 1:30 PM
End Date
17-4-2026 2:30 PM
Description
Introduction: High-functioning tumor boards depend not only on clinical expertise but on the leadership culture that shapes team dynamics and decision-making. Multidisciplinary tumor boards (MTBs) are now recognized as an evidence-based organizational approach to oncology care, associated with improved staging accuracy, guideline adherence, and treatment outcomes. Constructs such as humility, data-driven reasoning, and active team engagement are recognized as drivers of patient-centered care, yet they are rarely measured or deliberately taught in oncology settings. Despite validated instruments existing for assessing MTB decision-making and leadership performance, such as MTB-MODe and ATLAS, no structured curricula have operationalized these findings for systematic culture improvement. The University Hospitals (UH) Cutaneous Oncology Tumor Board presents a unique opportunity to formalize and study these leadership practices. Notably, the UH Cutaneous Oncology Tumor Board is deliberately focused on culture and actively cultivating the elements of effective teamwork. This project aims to characterize that leadership culture, examine which elements are intrinsic versus nurtured, and translate observed strengths into a structured curriculum.
Methods: This project employs a phased mixed-methods design grounded in implementation science and organizational behavior principles. Mixed-methods surveys will be developed and validated for UH Cutaneous Oncology Tumor Board members. Items will be developed from validated leadership instruments (including MTB-MODe and ATLAS) and refined through expert review and cognitive pretesting. Findings will directly inform the development of modular leadership curriculum. Post-dissemination surveys will assess curriculum impact on tumor board culture and discussion quality.
Results: Preliminary descriptive and thematic analyses are anticipated to confirm a strong leadership culture within UH Cutaneous Oncology Tumor Board, characterized by humility, data-driven expertise, and collegial engagement. Curriculum development and dissemination will stem from this initial analysis of the UH Cutaneous Oncology Tumor Board.
Discussion: This project will produce a validated framework for assessing leadership culture in tumor board settings, a scalable evidence-informed curriculum, and a reproducible model for culture-focused quality improvement in oncology. By operationalizing leadership as a modifiable system characteristic rather than an individual trait, this work has the potential to meaningfully improve team function, clinical decision-making, and patient-centered outcomes across diverse oncology care environments.
Embargo Period
5-20-2026
From Assessment to Implementation: Building and Sustaining Expert Tumor Boards
Philadelphia, PA
Introduction: High-functioning tumor boards depend not only on clinical expertise but on the leadership culture that shapes team dynamics and decision-making. Multidisciplinary tumor boards (MTBs) are now recognized as an evidence-based organizational approach to oncology care, associated with improved staging accuracy, guideline adherence, and treatment outcomes. Constructs such as humility, data-driven reasoning, and active team engagement are recognized as drivers of patient-centered care, yet they are rarely measured or deliberately taught in oncology settings. Despite validated instruments existing for assessing MTB decision-making and leadership performance, such as MTB-MODe and ATLAS, no structured curricula have operationalized these findings for systematic culture improvement. The University Hospitals (UH) Cutaneous Oncology Tumor Board presents a unique opportunity to formalize and study these leadership practices. Notably, the UH Cutaneous Oncology Tumor Board is deliberately focused on culture and actively cultivating the elements of effective teamwork. This project aims to characterize that leadership culture, examine which elements are intrinsic versus nurtured, and translate observed strengths into a structured curriculum.
Methods: This project employs a phased mixed-methods design grounded in implementation science and organizational behavior principles. Mixed-methods surveys will be developed and validated for UH Cutaneous Oncology Tumor Board members. Items will be developed from validated leadership instruments (including MTB-MODe and ATLAS) and refined through expert review and cognitive pretesting. Findings will directly inform the development of modular leadership curriculum. Post-dissemination surveys will assess curriculum impact on tumor board culture and discussion quality.
Results: Preliminary descriptive and thematic analyses are anticipated to confirm a strong leadership culture within UH Cutaneous Oncology Tumor Board, characterized by humility, data-driven expertise, and collegial engagement. Curriculum development and dissemination will stem from this initial analysis of the UH Cutaneous Oncology Tumor Board.
Discussion: This project will produce a validated framework for assessing leadership culture in tumor board settings, a scalable evidence-informed curriculum, and a reproducible model for culture-focused quality improvement in oncology. By operationalizing leadership as a modifiable system characteristic rather than an individual trait, this work has the potential to meaningfully improve team function, clinical decision-making, and patient-centered outcomes across diverse oncology care environments.