Dana-Farber Leadership Profiles

Benjamin L. Ebert, MD, PhD
Dana-Farber President and CEO

Benjamin L. Ebert, MD, PhD, is president and CEO of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the George P. Canellos, MD and Jean S. Canellos Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The Ebert laboratory focuses on the molecular basis and treatment of hematologic malignancies and its non-malignant precursor conditions, with a particular focus on myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and clonal hematopoiesis. The Ebert laboratory demonstrated that lenalidomide, a derivative of thalidomide, binds the CRL4-CRBN E3 ubiquitin ligase and induces degradation of specific substrates. Subsequent research has examined novel mechanisms of drug-induced protein degradation that expand the spectrum of protein substrates that can be targeted pharmacologically.

Dr. Ebert is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and the Academy of the American Association for Cancer Research. He served as president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2017. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Broad Institute and Break Through Cancer.

Dr. Ebert received the William Dameshek Prize from the American Society of Hematology, the Meyenburg Prize for Cancer Research, the Sjöberg Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the Korsmeyer Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He has received awards from Harvard Medical School and the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program for mentorship.

Dr. Ebert received a bachelor's degree from Williams College and a doctorate from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in the laboratory of Sir Peter Ratcliffe. He completed an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, a residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a fellowship in hematology/oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Learn more about Benjamin L. Ebert, MD, PhD

William C. Hahn, MD, PhD
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

William C. Hahn, MD, PhD, has been engaged in clinical care and research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute since 1996. He is the William Rosenberg Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber and Harvard Medical School, and an Institute Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He serves as an Executive Vice President and the Chief Operating Officer of Dana-Farber.

He received his AB in Biochemical Sciences, PhD in Immunology, and MD — all from Harvard University — and completed his clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Dana-Farber. His research focuses on understanding how mutations cooperate in cancer initiation and progression to develop rational combination therapies.

Dr. Hahn has made numerous discoveries that have informed our current molecular understanding of cancer. His laboratory has pioneered the use of integrated functional genomic approaches to identify and validate cancer targets. The tools, models, and approaches that his laboratory have developed are widely used worldwide to discover and validate molecularly targeted cancer therapies. He received the Wilson S. Stone Award from MD Anderson Cancer Center for outstanding research in cancer (2000), the Ho-Am Prize in Medicine (2010), the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (2015), the Claire and Richard Morse Award (2019), and the Hope Funds Award for Excellence in Medicine (2023). He has been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, American Association of Physicians, the National Academy of Inventors, and the National Academy of Medicine.

Michael L. Reney
Executive Vice President and Chief Finance and Business Strategy Officer

Michael Reney joined Dana-Farber in 2015, and is responsible for treasury, accounting, business planning, revenue cycle, payer contracting, decision support, and population management. Mr. Reney also serves as Assistant Treasurer, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc.; Assistant Treasurer, Dana-Farber, Inc.; Treasurer, The Dana-Farber Trust; and Treasurer, Dana-Farber Community Cancer Care Network. Prior to joining Dana-Farber, he served as Chief Financial Officer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Mr. Reney began his career as a senior auditor at Deloitte & Touche, LLP, after which he joined BWH as its accounting manager. His extensive experience includes serving as assistant controller at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by several positions within Partners Healthcare. In 2000, he returned to BWH as controller and executive director of Finance, and was named Senior Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer for BWHC in 2008.

Mr. Reney holds a Bachelor’s in Accounting from Bentley College and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, as well as the Healthcare Roundtable for CFOs. Additionally, he serves on the boards of the Longwood Collective and Controlled Risk Insurance Company (CRICO).

Scott A. Armstrong, MD, PhD
President, Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center
Chair, Department of Pediatric Oncology

Scott A. Armstrong, MD, PhD, was appointed Senior Vice President for Drug Discovery and Chief Research Strategy Officer in 2024, leading Dana-Farber’s institutional research strategy focusing on our therapeutic discovery efforts. Dr. Armstrong became the President of Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center in 2019 and has been Chairman of the Department of Pediatric Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute since 2016. He is also the David G. Nathan Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and associate chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Armstrong was previously director of the Center for Epigenetics Research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Professor of Pediatrics at the Weill Cornell Medical College. He earned his medical degree and PhD from University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 1996. After internship and residency training with the Boston Combined Residency Program (BCRP) at Boston Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital, he completed a hematology/oncology fellowship at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.

The major focus of Dr. Armstrong’s career has been on delineating the biology of childhood cancers and the development of new therapeutic approaches for children with cancer. His research program has focused on the mechanisms of leukemia development and the relationship between leukemia and normal hematopoietic stem cells. Dr. Armstrong continues to direct a vigorous research program that focuses on development of new therapeutics that target chromatin-based mechanisms, and he is actively involved in the development and translation of a number of new small molecule approaches that likely will be tested in clinical trials in the near future.

Bradley Bernstein, MD, PhD
Chair, Department of Cancer Biology

Bradley Bernstein, MD, PhD, is Chair of Cancer Biology at Dana-Farber, where he holds the Richard and Nancy Lubin Family Chair. He is also Director of the Gene Regulation Observatory at the Broad Institute; a Professor of Cell Biology and Pathology at Harvard Medical School; and an Investigator in Harvard's Ludwig Institute.

Dr. Bernstein received his BS from Yale and his MD and PhD from the University of Washington, before completing a residency in clinical pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and postdoctoral research at Harvard University. He launched an independent research program in the Department of Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in 2005. Dr. Bernstein's honors include an Early Career Scientist Award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; a Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund; the NIH Director's Pioneer Award; an American Cancer Society Professorship; and the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research.

Craig A. Bunnell, MD, MPH, MBA
Chief Medical Officer

Craig A. Bunnell, MD, MPH, MBA, is Dana-Farber’s Morse Family Chief Medical Officer and medical director for Adult Ambulatory Oncology. Dr. Bunnell received his bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, from Colorado College, after which he was a Thomas J. Watson Fellow in Stockholm, Sweden. He earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and his MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. He also earned his MBA from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Bunnell completed his internship, residency, and fellowship in hematology and oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he also served as chief medical resident. Dr. Bunnell is a medical oncologist involved in research and the care of patients with breast cancer in the Susan F. Smith Center for Women's Cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Kathleen Burns, MD, PhD
Chair, Department of Pathology

Kathleen Burns, MD, PhD, is Chair of the Department of Pathology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Vice Chair of the Department of Pathology, and Senior Hematopathologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as well as Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. The Burns laboratory focuses on high-copy number genomic repeats and transposable elements, their contributions to human disease, and ways to leverage this biology to better diagnose and treat cancers.

Dr. Burns is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Association of University Pathologists, and the Interurban Clinical Club. Her honors include a Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Scriver Family Visiting Professorship in Genetic Medicine at McGill University, and the Daria Haust Lecturer of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at Queen’s University.

Dr. Burns received her MD and PhD degrees from Baylor College of Medicine and completed a clinical pathology residency and hematopathology fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where she served as Chief Resident. Thereafter, she joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins, where she progressed through their academic ranks to Professor with tenure, and served as the Pathology Department's Deputy Director for Research and Programs, and the medical school’s Director of the Physician-Scientist Training Program before being recruited to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. 

Heidi Conway
Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer

Heidi Conway joined Dana-Farber in July 2021. She brings deep experience in leading human resources initiatives that support employee development, engagement, mentorship, and well-being, and the growth of a diverse and inclusive workforce. Prior to joining Dana-Farber, Ms. Conway was Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at the Johns Hopkins University.

During her tenure at Johns Hopkins, Ms. Conway was integral to strengthening and expanding the HR function, guiding her team and partnering with stakeholders across the institution to advance key strategic and operational initiatives for the university. Among her many contributions are implementing a major expansion of JHU's child care benefits and paid parental leave for employees and students, strengthening HR talent across the function, enhancing the university's benefits program, and leading a full review of the retirement and investment offerings with a focus on simplifying the employee experience.

Before joining Johns Hopkins, Ms. Conway held several HR leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Harvard University. She holds a B.A. in Business Administration from New England College and a master's in Administrative Studies from Boston College.

Michelle Cox
Senior Vice President for Research Operations

Michelle Cox joined Dana-Farber upon graduation from Assumption College in 1992. Ms. Cox is the Senior Vice President for Research Operations. Prior to this role, she served as the Department Administrator for Pediatric Oncology for over 15 years before transitioning into Research Administration, where she held the positions of Senior Director for Shared Resources for Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and Vice President of Research Operations.

 

George D. Demetri, MD
Senior Vice President for Experimental Therapeutics

George D. Demetri, MD, advances institutional efforts in the discovery and development of novel anticancer therapies based on experience gained from his leadership in several drug development efforts, including imatinib (Gleevec) in patients with the sarcoma known as gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), one of the first examples of targeted cancer therapy for a treatment-resistant solid tumor.

Dr. Demetri's role at Dana-Farber is also complemented by serving as the co-director of the Ludwig Center at Harvard along with Joan Brugge, PhD, of Harvard Medical School, comprising more than 30 investigative teams collaborating across Harvard-affiliated institutions to understand, overcome and prevent resistance of cancers to therapeutic interventions. Dr. Demetri trained at Harvard College and Stanford University School of Medicine, followed by internal medicine residency and chief residency at the University of Washington Hospitals in Seattle. He also co-directs the Harvard Medical School Global Education course on Cancer Biology and Therapeutics.

Lisa R. Diller, MD
Vice-Chair, Department of Pediatric Oncology

Lisa R. Diller, MD, is vice-chair of the Department of Pediatric Oncology, and the medical director of the David B. Perini, Jr. Quality of Life Clinic. Her research focuses on the late effects of treatment of childhood cancer and genetic cancer predispositions in childhood; her clinical work focuses on pediatric solid tumors. Dr. Diller received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and earned her Doctor of Medicine from the University of California at San Diego.

Melany Duval
Senior Vice President, Chief Philanthropy Officer

Melany Duval joined Dana-Farber in 2019. Prior to this, she was Vice President of Development at Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the largest community foundation in the world. She also held positions as Senior Associate Dean and Associate Vice President of Health Science Campus Development at the University of Southern California, and at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Ms. Duval earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and business administration from Loyola Marymount University.

Irene Ghobrial, MD
Senior Vice President for Experimental Medicine

Irene Ghobrial, MD, is the Senior Vice President for Experimental Medicine, Director of the Center for Early Detection and Interception of Blood Cancers, Lavine Family Chair for Preventative Cancer Therapies, Co-Leader of the Lymphoma/Myeloma Cancer Center Program, Director of the Ghobrial Laboratory, and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The focus of her research is early screening, identification of novel biomarkers of disease progression and the development of therapeutic interceptions in pre-malignant conditions. She leads translational studies to define genomic and immune mechanisms of disease progression from precursor myeloma, as well as clinical trials to intercept disease progression. Her accomplishments have been recognized with numerous awards, most notably the William Dameshek Prize from the American Society of Hematology.

Dr. Ghobrial earned her medical degree from Cairo University School of Medicine, Egypt. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Wayne State University, Michigan, and a Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Minnesota, before joining Dana-Farber in 2005.

Anne Gross, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
Senior Vice President, Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer

Anne Gross, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, became Dana-Farber’s senior vice president for patient care services and chief nursing officer in 2016. She joined Dana-Farber in 2002 and since 2004 served as vice president, Adult Nursing and Clinical Services. Dr. Gross is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and currently serves as co-chair elect of the Academy’s Fellows Selection Committee. Prior to joining Dana-Farber, she was a clinical nurse and leader, most recently at Cambridge Health Alliance. She received her bachelor's degree in nursing from St. Louis University, her master’s degree in nursing from Boston College, and her doctoral degree from the University of Massachusetts.

Daphne Haas-Kogan, MD
Professor and Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Boston Children’s Hospital

Daphne Haas-Kogan, MD, received her medical degree from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) in 1991. She completed a research fellowship, followed by residency in radiation oncology at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC). Dr. Haas-Kogan spent 18 years as a radiation oncologist, researcher, and academic leader in the UCSF HDFCCC system before becoming chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Dana-Farber, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Boston Children’s Hospital in 2015.

Kevin M. Haigis, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Chair, Executive Committee for Research (ECR)

Kevin M. Haigis, PhD, joined Dana-Farber as Chief Scientific Officer in 2020. Prior to assuming this role, Dr. Haigis was Director of Cancer Genetics at Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center. Dr. Haigis received his PhD in genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and did post-doctoral work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a Robert Black Fellow of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.

Dr. Haigis has a long-standing interest in intestinal biology and the molecular pathogenesis of colorectal cancer. His laboratory combines computational and informatic approaches with experimental approaches in genetically engineered mice to study the relationship among Ras oncogene signaling, colorectal cancer, and inflammation.

Rafael Irizarry, PhD
Chair, Department of Data Science

Rafael Irizarry, PhD, received his Bachelor's degree in Mathematics in 1993 from the University of Puerto Rico, and went on to receive a PhD in Statistics in 1998 from the University of California, Berkeley. His thesis work was on Statistical Models for Music Sound Signals. He joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Department of Biostatistics in 1998, and was promoted to Professor in 2007. He is now Professor and Chair of the Department of Data Science at Dana-Farber, and a Professor of Biostatistics at Harvard School of Public Health.

Professor Irizarry's dedication to education is best demonstrated by the success of the numerous trainees he has mentored. He has also developed several HarvardX online courses on data analysis, which have been completed by thousands of students. These courses are divided into three series: Professional Certificate in Data Science, Data Analysis for the Life Sciences, and Genomics Data Analysis. He shares the material for these courses through textbooks that are freely available online and reproducible code through GitHub.

Jason M. Johnson, PhD
Senior Vice President, Chief Data and Analytics Officer

Jason M. Johnson, PhD, joined the Institute in April 2016 and serves as chief health information officer. Prior to joining Dana-Farber, Dr. Johnson was executive vice president and head of R&D at PatientsLikeMe, a patient-focused research company in Cambridge, MA. He came to that position after serving in various leadership roles in scientific informatics, bioinformatics, and genomics at Merck for many years. Dr. Johnson holds AB and BS degrees from Stanford University, a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge (UK), and a PhD in Biophysics from Harvard University.

Joel T. Katz, MD
Senior Vice President for Education

Joel T. Katz, MD, joined Dana-Farber in 2024 as Senior Vice President for Education. In addition to this new role, he serves as the Designated Institutional Official for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). Along with an interprofessional team of educators, his responsibilities include serving as the liaison between Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School for student educational matters and overseeing Dana-Farber’s residency and fellowship training programs, including those at affiliate institutions. He will also manage the coordination of continuing medical education activities to keep global providers and scientists up to date on cutting-edge developments in cancer care.

Dr. Katz received a BA from Earlham College and then went on to receive both an MA in Biomedical Illustration and an MD from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and the Harvard Longwood infectious diseases fellowship that included Dana-Farber. Before joining the Institute, Dr. Katz was the internal medicine residency director and vice chair for education at the BWH Department of Medicine.

Katherine Krajewski, MD
Acting Chair, Department of Imaging

Katherine Krajewski, MD, became the Acting Chair of the Department of Imaging at Dana-Farber in March 2024. She received her BS from the University of Michigan and her MD from Wayne State University School of Medicine. She completed a diagnostic radiology residency and abdominal imaging fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where she served as a Chief Radiology Resident. Dr. Krajewski joined the radiology faculty at Dana-Farber in 2009. She has been a recipient of the Association of University Radiologists GE-Radiology Research Academic Fellowship (GERRAF) Award and the Society of Abdominal Radiology Morton A. Bosniak Research Award for her research focused on imaging in the management of renal cell carcinoma. She is a Fellow of the International Cancer Imaging Society and a section editor for Cancer Imaging.

Christopher S. Lathan, MD, MS, MPH
Chief Clinical Access and Equity Officer

Christopher S. Lathan, MD, MS, MPH, is Dana-Farber's Chief Clinical Access and Equity Officer. He is also associate medical director of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Network, and assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Lathan's primary research interests are centered on the effects of race, class, and access to care in cancer outcomes, including racial disparities in lung cancer treatment, differences in access to precision medicine by race and social class, and equitable distribution of new treatment across vulnerable populations.

Dr. Lathan aims to bridge the gap between research efforts in disparities and the realities of patient care by developing interventions to increase access to high quality care, developed in part through community engagement. He remains a clinical oncologist focusing on lung cancer patients and is the founding director of Dana-Farber's Cancer Care Equity Program, a clinical outreach program that aids in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer for patients at Federally Qualified Health Centers. He is also the associate director of the Dana-Farber Network, with a focus on the accessibility of clinical trials.

Naomi Lenane
Senior Vice President of Information Services and Chief Information Officer

Naomi Lenane was appointed Chief Information Officer in June 2017. She oversees all software, services, and infrastructure supporting Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s clinical and business operations. Naomi joined Information Services in 2002 holding multiple roles, including the technology leader for the Epic electronic health record implementation, and the opening of the Yawkey Center for Cancer Care. Naomi received her undergraduate degree from Randolph College (formerly Randolph-Macon Woman's College). She is an active member of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the Society for Information Management (SIM) with a focus on women in technology.

Ian Matthew-Clayton
Vice President, Chief Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Officer

Ian Matthew-Clayton joined Dana-Farber in 2022. He joined Dana-Farber from Johns Hopkins University, where he served as Executive Director for Talent Acquisition and as a Human Resources Leadership Team member.

Mr. Matthew-Clayton is a proven leader in recruiting and supporting diverse talent and leading strategic initiatives rooted in inclusion, diversity, and equity. He led the development of new resources for hiring managers to reduce unconscious bias in the recruiting process, as well as resources for employees to support their career development and advancement.

Notably, Mr. Matthew-Clayton played a vital role in the Johns Hopkins Roadmap 2020 Taskforce that oversaw the university's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Prior to his work at Johns Hopkins, Mr. Matthew-Clayton served as Director of Talent Acquisition and Recruitment at the George Washington University, as well as Director of Human Resources Operations at the City College of New York. He earned his BA from the University at Buffalo and holds an MSEd from Fordham University.

Patrick McCormick, MBA
Senior Vice President for Hospital Transformation

Patrick McCormick joined Dana-Farber in 2024 as Senior Vice President for Hospital Transformation. In this role, he leads the planning, development, and execution of Dana-Farber’s collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and proposed future cancer hospital. Patrick works with leaders from Dana-Farber, BIDMC, and Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians (HMFP) to oversee construction and coordinate clinical and administrative systems, ensuring seamless transitions of care.

Before joining Dana-Farber, Patrick spent 20 years at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) Knight Cancer Institute in Portland, OR, where he most recently served as Vice President for Oncology Services. At OHSU, he managed clinical cancer program operations and co-managed cancer service line strategy, which included management of collaboration agreements with other health systems as well as both outpatient and inpatient building expansion projects. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Patrick holds a degree from Simon Fraser University and an MBA from the University of Findlay.

Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt, MD, MPH, FASCO
Chief Clinical Research Officer

Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt, MD, MPH, FASCO, is the Chief Clinical Research Officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Associate Director of Clinical Research at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Dr. Meyerhardt earned his medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine, and completed an internship and residency in Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He completed a clinical fellowship in Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Meyerhardt also holds a Master's of Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health. He is a Senior Physician in Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center's Gastrointestinal Cancer Treatment Center; holds the Douglas Gray Woodruff Chair in Colorectal Cancer Research; and is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH
Interim Chair of Medical Oncology

Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH is interim chair of the Department of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she also serves as director of the Adult Survivorship Program and co-founder and director of the Program for Young Adults with Breast Cancer. She holds the Eric P. Winer, MD, Chair in Breast Cancer Research at Dana-Farber and is a professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Partridge conducts clinical research focused on improving cancer care and outcomes with a particular focus on young adults with breast cancer. 

Dr. Partridge serves on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO); co-chairs the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology Breast Committee; and serves on the NCI Breast Cancer Steering Committee. She is also a Chief Scientific Advisor for Susan G. Komen and an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor. She received a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University, an MD from Cornell University Medical College, and a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed her residency at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and fellowships in medical oncology and hematology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Caroline Powers
Senior Vice President for External Affairs

Caroline Powers joined Dana-Farber in 2021. Previously, she was senior director for federal relations at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). She has also served as senior advisor for federal-state relations with a focus on health policy to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, and as legislative director in the U.S. House of Representatives for Congressman Stephen F. Lynch. Ms. Powers began her career as a health policy analyst in the Massachusetts State Senate. She has a master’s degree in Government from the Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in American Studies from Goucher College, both in Baltimore, MD.

Chandrajit P. Raut, MD, MSc
Surgeon-in-Chief

Chandrajit P. Raut, MD, MSc, is Surgeon-in-Chief for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In this role, he is responsible for the oncologic surgical staff and programs through Dana-Farber’s collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Dr. Raut is the Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology and the inaugural Distinguished Chair for Cancer Care at BWH. He received a BA and BS from Stanford University, MSc from University of Oxford, and MD from Harvard Medical School, where he is also a Professor of Surgery. He completed his residency in general surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and fellowship in surgical oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr. Raut specializes in the multidisciplinary care of patients with soft tissue sarcoma and serves as the Surgery Director for the Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology at Dana-Farber. His research focuses on multimodal strategies to reduce rates of local recurrence for patients with sarcoma.

Adam Reich
Senior Vice President for Business Strategy

Adam Reich joined Dana-Farber in 2018 and serves as the Senior Vice President for Business Strategy, leading the Business Initiatives and Alliances team. In this capacity, Mr. Reich is responsible for developing and advancing the Institute’s overall business strategy and providing structure and management of the Institute’s growth priorities. He brings deep experience in business development, strategic planning, market strategies, and broader commercialization and growth initiatives.

Prior to joining Dana-Farber, Mr. Reich was a Director at Strategy& (formerly Booz & Co.), the strategic advisory arm of PwC, where he advised industry-leading organizations for over 10 years to design and implement new business initiatives and growth strategies. Over his tenure, he has worked with leading Academic Medical Centers, leading health systems, research institutes, pharma companies, private equities and corporate clients, including several Fortune 500 companies, both domestically and internationally. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Yeshiva University.

Barrett J. Rollins, MD, PhD
Linde Family Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Barrett J. Rollins, MD, PhD, received his doctoral degree in 1979 and medical degree in 1980 from Case Western Reserve University and completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston. He then performed clinical and research fellowships in medical oncology at Dana-Farber and joined the Institute's faculty in 1986. Dr. Rollins served as Dana-Farber's Chief Scientific Officer from 2004-2019; he is currently Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a senior advisor to Dana-Farber's President and CEO.

Stephen E. Sallan, MD
Chief of Staff Emeritus

Stephen E. Sallan, MD, joined the Institute in 1973 as a trainee before becoming a member of the staff in the Department of Pediatric Oncology. He was named chief of staff and chairman of the Medical Staff Executive Committee in 1995, and chief of staff emeritus in 2012. Dr. Sallan received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Wayne State University. He is presently a professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and was named the Quick Family Senior Investigator in 2002.

Alice Shaw, MD, PhD
Chief of Strategic Partnerships

Alice Shaw, MD, PhD, is the Chief of Strategic Partnerships for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She oversees the collaborative efforts between our researchers and the life sciences industry to help accelerate the development of new and innovative therapies for patients with cancer. Dr. Shaw was previously Vice President and Global Head of Translational Clinical Oncology at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), where she led early drug development in oncology for almost five years. Prior to Novartis, Dr. Shaw was the Director of the Center for Thoracic Cancers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the Paula O’Keeffe Endowed Chair of Thoracic Oncology at MGH, and Co-Leader of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Thoracic Oncology Program.

During her time at MGH, Dr. Shaw studied resistance to targeted therapies and helped develop numerous targeted therapies for patients with oncogene-driven lung cancer, four of which are now FDA-approved therapies (crizotinib, ceritinib, alectinib, lorlatinib). Dr. Shaw was recently elected to the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Board of Directors. She was previously Co-Leader of the SU2C Lung Cancer Dream Team and a standing member of the US FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC).

Robert J. Soiffer, MD
Chair, Executive Committee for Clinical Programs (ECCP)

Robert J. Soiffer, MD, is professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and institute physician at Dana-Farber. He is chief of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies, vice-chairman of Medical Oncology, and co-director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Service at Dana-Farber. He serves on the Executive Committee for Clinical Practice, the Executive Committee for Clinical Research, and the Executive Patient Safety Oversight Group at Dana-Farber.

Dr. Soiffer is a former president of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. He served on the advisory board for the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. He is a member of the executive steering committees for the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network; serves on the board of directors for the National Marrow Donor Program Be the Match Registry; and serves on the board of the Massachusetts chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Richard Stone, MD
Chief of Staff
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Richard Stone, MD, is director of Dana-Farber's Adult Acute Leukemia Program. Dr. Stone is nationally recognized for his translational and clinical research concerning blood and bone marrow malignancies, including acute leukemia, myeloproliferative disorders, and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a bone marrow failure state that may convert to leukemia.

In addition to his work at Dana-Farber, Dr. Stone serves as chair of the Medical Oncology Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine, chair of the Medical Advisory Board of the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation, and chairman of the Leukemia Core Committee for the Alliance for clinical Trials in Oncology.

Dr. Stone earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1981. He completed his internal medicine residency training at Brigham and Women's Hospital and his hematology-oncology fellowship at Dana-Farber.

Mary-Ellen Taplin, MD
Chair, Executive Committee for Clinical Research (ECCR)

Mary-Ellen Taplin, MD, joined the Institute in 2003. She serves as director of clinical research for the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at Dana-Farber /Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center. She is also professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is an investigator on many projects, including the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trial Consortium, Dana-Farber SPORE grant, Stand Up 2 Cancer, and several Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Grants. Dr. Taplin has been dedicated to clinical and translational investigations that focus on novel approaches to treating localized high risk prostate cancer and secondary hormone therapy for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. She has described molecular and physiologic alterations in the androgen receptor pathway in the context of prostate cancer resistance. Dr. Taplin is dedicated to patient care and clinical investigation in genitourinary oncology.

Goldie Taylor
Senior Vice President, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer

Goldie Taylor joined the Institute in 2022. She previously served as chief marketing officer at Morehouse School of Medicine. Well-known for her on-air and leadership roles at CNN and NBC News, Ms. Taylor has also held senior and executive positions in the private and public sectors, including Edelman Public Relations, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, NBC Universal, and Burrell Communications. Among other leadership positions, Ms. Taylor has directed strategic communications and marketing campaigns for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, McDonald's, Kraft Foods, The Home Depot, Toyota North America, Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, and the Procter & Gamble family of brands.

Mary Tolikas, PhD, MSc, MBA
Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer

Mary Tolikas, PhD, MSc, MBA, joined Dana-Farber in 2022. Dr. Tolikas has more than two decades of experience in establishing and growing technology-based organizations in both industry and academia. Prior to joining Dana-Farber, she was CEO of the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering in Geneva, Switzerland, where she led the Center's business operations, and managed the development and translation of projects that span neurotechnology, neuroradiology, and neurobiology modalities.

Dr. Tolikas also played a central role in the launch and growth of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, where she spent nearly 10 years on the leadership team as Operations Director. At Harvard, she also served as Executive Director for Special Projects in the Office of the Provost, and was co-instructor in the Master in Design Engineering Program.

Dr. Tolikas holds a BEng degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, MSc and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT.

James Tulsky, MD
Chair, Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care

James Tulsky, MD, received his AB from Cornell University, his MD from the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, and completed internal medicine training at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He continued at UCSF as chief medical resident and subsequently as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar. Dr. Tulsky was on the faculty of Duke University from 1993-2015, lastly as professor of Medicine and Nursing and chief, Duke Palliative Care. He joined Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 2015 to be Chair, Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care. Dr. Tulsky has a longstanding research interest in clinician-patient communication and quality of life in serious illness.

Jennifer Willcox, JD
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Governance Officer

Jennifer Willcox, JD, joined Dana-Farber in June 2022 as SVP, General Counsel and Chief Governance Officer. She joined from Yale New Haven Health (YNHH), where she served as Vice President of Legal Services. At YNHH, Ms. Willcox provided corporate, litigation, clinical risk management, patient care regulatory, employment, and labor advice for the health system that employs more than 25,000 people and includes five hospitals and a medical foundation with 1,000 physicians.

As a leader committed to diversity and health equity, Ms. Willcox helped establish the first "Medical Legal Partnership" at YNHH and led ongoing department initiatives to improving the hiring of diverse attorneys at partner firms. Previously in her career, she was also a partner in the healthcare department of Pullman & Comley, representing hospitals, academic medical centers, and other health care organizations. Ms. Willcox earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a Juris Doctor degree from Northeastern University School of Law.

David A. Williams, MD
Associate Chair, Department of Pediatric Oncology

David A. Williams, MD, is chief of Hematology/Oncology and director of Clinical and Translational Research at Boston Children’s Hospital and associate chairman, Department of Pediatric Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is director of the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Training Program at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's.

Dr. Williams' laboratory has been continuously NIH-funded since 1986. He has served on multiple NIH Study Sections, including currently on the Loan Repayment Study Section for Pediatrics; he served for five years on the NCI Parent Committee for Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Dr. Williams served on both the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) and the NIH Gene Therapy Safety Advisory Board. He is a past President of the American Society of Hematology. He has trained over 45 fellows and post-doctoral fellows and numerous residents and medical students in his laboratory, the majority of whom are still in academic medicine.

Dr. Williams is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts, over 100 invited reviews, and multiple textbook chapters. He is actively involved in gene therapy trials for blood, immunodeficiency, and neurological genetic diseases.

Kai Wucherpfennig, MD, PhD
Chair, Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology

Kai Wucherpfennig, MD, PhD, is chair of the Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology at Dana-Farber, and Professor of Neurology and Professor of Immunology at Harvard Medical School. He is also a co-leader of the Cancer Immunology Program of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.

Dr. Wucherpfennig's research focuses on the role of cytotoxic T cells and NK cells in cancer immunotherapy. His lab has defined key negative regulators of T cell function in the tumor microenvironment that represent novel therapeutic targets. He has also discovered molecular mechanisms in cancer cells responsible for resistance to T cell-mediated cytotoxicity.

He has been elected as a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2006), the Henry Kunkel Society at Rockefeller University (2007), and as Fellow of the American Society for the Advancement of Science (2009). Dr. Wucherpfennig received MD and PhD degrees from the University of Göttingen in Germany, and did his postdoctoral training at Brigham and Women's Hospital and at Harvard College.