McCall to Co-direct New Precision Cancer Medicine Research Program

The Duke Cancer Institute has announced a reconfiguration of its National Cancer Institute-Designated Research Programs effective January 1, 2021.  Research Programs are the administrative homes for Duke Cancer Institute faculty investigators whose work centers around the program’s theme.  The programs support education and research in their respective areas by organizing seminars, retreats, and the presentation of the program’s work in the P50 Cancer Center Support Grant.

Previously there have been eight programs:  Cancer Control and Population Sciences, Cancer Genetics and Genomics, Hematologic Malignancies & Cellular Therapy, Neuro-Oncology, Radiation Oncology and Imaging, Solid Tumor Therapeutics, Tumor Biology and Women’s Cancer.  The reconfiguration now includes seven programs as follows:

•     One broad-based basic cancer science research program, Cancer Biology, which will be led by Drs. Micah Luftig, Jen-Tsan Ashley Chi, and Ann Marie Pendergast.
•     Two population science research programs, Cancer Prevention, Outcomes and Survivorship, led by Drs. Kathryn Pollak and Leah Zullig; and Cancer Risk, Detection and Interception, led by Drs. Meira Epplein and Shelly Hwang.
•     Three discipline-focused research programs that span the spectrum from basic to translational to clinical research: Immuno-Oncology, led by Drs. Scott Antonia and Stephanie Sarantopoulos; Precision Cancer Medicine and Investigational Therapeutics, led by Drs. John Strickler, Shannon McCall, and Dorothy Sipkins; and Radiation Oncology and Imaging, which will continue to be led by Drs. David Kirsch and Nimmi Ramanujam.
•     One disease-focused research program, Neuro-Oncology, which will be led by Drs. David Ashley and Kyle Walsh.

Specifically, Dr. Shannon McCall was selected to co-lead the Precision Cancer Medicine and Investigational Therapeutics program because of her work directing the DCI-supported BioRepository & Precision Pathology Center and in helping launch the DCI’s Precision Cancer Medicine Initiative (PCMI) in 2018.  The PCMI encompasses the weekly Molecular Tumor Board administratively led by Pathology’s Dr. Michelle Green, the Molecular Registry of Tumors database written and supported by Pathology’s Dr. Michael Datto and Mr. Chris Hubbard, and the American Association for Cancer Research’s Genomics Neoplasia Information Exchange Project where Dr. McCall serves as Duke site PI, working with Pathology’s Dr. Jonathan Bell to facilitate data-sharing.  

Congratulations to Dr. McCall!