Patrick Hwu, MD, Chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Sarcoma Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, has been named Division Head of Cancer Medicine.
He will take over from Richard Champlin, MD, who has been acting Division Head on an ad interim basis. Dr. Champlin will continue to serve as Chair of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.
“Dr. Hwu is an internationally respected physician-scientist who has 25 years of experience in the fields of tumor immunology, targeted therapies, and translational studies,” said Ethan Dmitrovsky, MD, Provost and Executive Vice President. “He’s a seasoned leader, having successfully chaired two departments and served as codirector of MD Anderson’s Center for Cancer Immunology Research and its immunotherapy platform. He has also held endowed positions, including the Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Distinguished University Chair in Cancer Research. We’re delighted that he will be leading this vital division and are thankful for Dr. Champlin’s skillful leadership.”
Dr. Hwu earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and served as a House Officer in Internal Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He completed a fellowship in oncology at the National Cancer Institute, where he continued to work for 10 years as a principal investigator leading tumor immunology studies. He joined MD Anderson in 2003 as the first Chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology. ■
