As director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC), I lead teams of clinicians and researchers who are dedicated to translating laboratory discoveries to innovative and compassionate patient care that targets each individual’s biologically unique cancer. Our collaborative culture connects top-tier medical professionals at the OSUCCC – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute with those in multiple colleges and disciplines at Ohio State and at cancer institutions across the country.
I also am a surgical oncologist and cancer researcher with more than three decades of experience in studying soft tissue sarcomas and providing science-based care for patients with these malignancies. I have published widely on sarcoma surgery and treatment. My research includes sarcoma molecular biology and the development of targeted therapeutics for this group of diseases. I formerly was principal investigator of an $11.5 million Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant that was awarded by the National Cancer Institute to the Sarcoma Alliance for Research Through Collaboration (SARC). This grant—the first SPORE to be awarded to a non-profit consortium of academic researchers—supported collaborative sarcoma translational research.
Since coming to The Ohio State University in 2013 after 31 years at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, I have served in a variety of roles, including vice chair for clinical affairs in the Department of Surgery, director of the Division of Surgical Oncology, director of the Sarcoma Research Laboratory, surgeon-in-chief for the OSUCCC – James and surgeon-in-chief for The Ohio State University Health Care System. During my tenure here, I have had the exciting opportunity to help plan the entire surgical environment in the new James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute that opened in 2014, replacing the original James that had opened in 1990.