Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center

The Dan L Duncan Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine formed in 2006 after a $100 million transformative gift from the late Dan L. Duncan. The National Cancer Institute designated the Duncan Cancer Center the following year in 2007. In 2015, the Duncan Cancer Center received comprehensive status from NCI for the breadth and depth of its research and its commitment to serve all Houstonians, making the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center one of only three comprehensive cancer centers in Texas. The Duncan Cancer Center has had marked increases in cancer research funding, from $99 million in 2007 to more than $170 million today. In addition, the center is a proud leader in community outreach, education, and reduction of health disparities in Texas.

The Duncan Cancer Center provides compassionate patient care and cutting-edge research through four hospital partners: Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Harris Health System’s Ben Taub Hospital, and Texas Children’s Hospital. Its mission is to reduce morbidity and mortality from cancer through research, education, and outreach into the community.

Baylor College of Medicine

Comp

Pavan Reddy, MD
Director

One baylor Plaza
MS: BCM305
Houston, TX 77030

(713) 798-1354

Senior Leaders

Senior Leader	Title
Chris Horaist, MEd	Associate Director for Administration
Dean Edwards, PhD	Associate Director for Research Infrastructure
Gail Eckhardt, MD	Associate Director for Translational Research
Helen Heslop, MD, DSc (Hon)	Deputy Director
Jason Mills, MD, PhD	Co-Associate Director for Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination
Margaret Goodell, PhD	Associate Director for Basic Science
Martha Mims, MD, PhD	Associate Director for Clinical Research
Mothaffar Rimawi, MD	Associate Director for Clinical Affairs
Pavan Reddy, MD	Director
Rayne Rouce, MD	Associate Director for Community Outreach and Education
Suzanne Fuqua, PhD	Co-Associate Director for Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination

Research Programs

Research Program	Program Leaders
Breast Cancer Program	Xiang Zhang, PhD; Alastair Thompson, MD
Cancer Cell and Gene Therapy	Helen Heslop, MD, DSc(Hon); Margaret Goodell, PhD
Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences	Aaron Thrift, PhD
Chromatin Biology	Suzanne Fuqua, PhD; Cheryl Walker, PhD
Pediatric Cancer Program	Carl Allen, MD, PhD; Sharon Plon, MD, PhD
Tumor Biology	David Rowley, PhD; Farrah Keheradmand, MD; Arun Sreekumar, PhD

Shared Resources

Category	Resource	Directors
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Advanced Microscopy and Image Informatics (AMII)	Michael Mancini, PhD; Steven Ludtke, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Genomic Editing Shared Resource (GESR)	Jun Xu, PhD; Aleksandar Bajic, PhD; Jason Heaney, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Genomic, Spatial Transcriptomic, Epigenomic and Single Cell Shared Resource (GSTESC)	Mira Jeong, PhD; Daniel Kraushaar, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	High-Parameter Cytometry Shared Resource (HPCSR)	Christine Beeton, PhD; Joel Sederstrom, MS
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Integrated Biobanking Shared Resource (IBSR)	Michael Ittmann, MD, PhD; Michael Scheurer, MPH, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Metabolomics Shared Resource (MSR)	Nagireddy Putluri, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Pre-Clinical PDX Models Shared Resource (PDXSR)	Michael Lewis, PhD; Lacey Dobrolecki, MS; Hugo Villanueva, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Proteomics Shared Resource (PSR)	Anna Malovannaya, PhD; Shixia Huang, PhD
Cat 3: Epidemiology, Cancer Control	Geospatial Analysis and Health Outcomes (GHSR) (developing)	Abiodun Oluyomi, PhD
Cat 4: Clinical Research	Cell Processing and Vector Production (CPVP)	Natalia Lapteva, MS, PhD; Zhuyong Mei, MD
Cat 6: Biostatistics	Quantitative Science Shared Resource (QSSR)	Susan Hilsenbeck, PhD; Cristian Coarfa, PhD

Last Updated

April 24, 2026