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Duke Cancer Institute

The Duke Cancer Institute (DCI) integrates all cancer-related activities at Duke Health and has been recognized as an NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center since 1972. DCI’s leadership team oversees all aspects of cancer care, cancer-related research, and cancer-related education across Duke University and the Duke University Health System.

The institute consists of more than 300 experts who conduct basic, clinical, translational, and population sciences research across 11 disease sites.

DCI partners with numerous internal and external centers and institutes, including the Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, North Carolina State University, and University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, among others.

Read more about Duke Cancer Institute. 

Duke University Medical Center

Comp
Michael B. Kastan, MD, PhD
Executive Director
Box 3917, 10 Bryan Searle Drive
Seely Mudd Building
Durham, NC 27710
(919) 684-3052

Senior Leaders

Senior Leader Title
Alexandra Thomas, MD Associate Director, Translational Science
Carey K Anders, MD Associate Director, Clinical Research
Chloe Fournier, MBA Associate Director, Administration
Christopher M Counter, BS, PhD Associate Director, Basic Research
Daniel J George, MD Co-Chair, Scientific Review Committee
Emily Norborge, MPSA DCI Chief Research Informatics Officer
Gerard C Blobe, MD, PhD Associate Director, Education and Training
Kathryn I Pollak, PhD Associate Director, Cancer Control and Population Sciences
Kris C Wood, PhD Co-Chair, Scientific Review Committee
Michael B Kastan, MD, PhD Principal Investigator and Executive Director, Duke Cancer Institute
Stephen Skapek, MD Associate Director, Pediatric Oncology
Steven Patierno, BS, PhD Deputy Director, Duke Cancer Institute
Tammara L Watts, BA, MD, PhD Associate Director, Community Outreach and Engagement

Research Programs

Research Program Program Leaders
Cancer Biology Jen-Tsan Chi, MD, PhD; Micah Luftig, PhD; Ann Pendergast, PhD
Cancer Prevention and Control Leah Zullig, PhD; Kathryn Pollak, PhD
Cancer Risk, Detection and Interception Meira Epplein, MA, MS, PhD; Katherine Garman, MD
Immuno-Oncology Stefanie Sarantopoulos, MD, PhD; Scott Antonia, MD, PhD
Neuro-Oncology Gerald Grant, MD; Kyle Walsh, PhD
Precision Cancer Medicine and Investigational Therapeutics Shannon McCall, BS, MD; Dorothy Sipkins, MD, PhD; John Strickler, MD
Radiation Oncology and Imaging Manisha Palta, MD; Yubin Kang, MD; Jose Conejo-Garcia, PhD

Shared Resources

Category Resource Directors
Cat 1: Laboratory Science Duke Immune Profiling Core (DIPC) Smita Nair, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science Flow Cytometry (FC) Javid Mohammed, ; Raphael Valdivia, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science Functional Genomics (FG) So Young Kim, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science Integrated Cancer Genomics (ICG) Gregory Wray, BS, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science Light Microscopy (LM) Lisa Cameron, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science Optical Molecular Imaging and Analysis (OMIA) Gregory Palmer, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science Proteomics and Metabolomics (PM) Erik Soderblom, PhD; Ivan Spasojevic, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science Rodent Cancer Models (RCM) Scott Soderling, PhD
Cat 3: Epidemiology, Cancer Control Behavioral Health and Survey Research Core (BHSR) Laura Fish, MPH, PhD
Cat 4: Clinical Research BioRepository and Precision Pathology Center (BRPC) Shannon McCall, BS, MD
Cat 6: Biostatistics Biostatistics (BS) Donna Niedzwiecki, PhD
Cat 7: Informatics Bioinformatics (BISR) Kouros Owzar, PhD
Last Updated
December 17, 2025