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Raymond DuBois Named Executive Vice President and Provost at MD Anderson Cancer Center

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Raymond DuBois, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, will join The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs by Sept. 1, 2007. "Dr. DuBois is a highly regarded laboratory scientist and clinical investigator, already well known to many at M. D. Anderson. He also is a skilled administrator, who directs one of the nation's most respected Comprehensive Cancer Centers," said M. D. Anderson President John Mendelsohn, M.D. in announcing the appointment. "He is a terrific choice for M. D. Anderson, which has ambitious plans for the future." DuBois also is professor of medicine, cell/developmental biology and cancer biology at Vanderbilt in Nashville. His research interests focus on studies of the molecular and genetic bases for colorectal cancer. He is internationally recognized for elucidating a key role of the prostaglandin biosynthetic pathway in producing inflammatory mediators that promote colorectal cancer. His research facilitated clinical trials targeting this pathway in humans which demonstrated a reduction in colon polyps that are the precursors of cancer. He will succeed Margaret Kripke, Ph.D., chief academic officer and executive vice president, who announced her intention to retire from her leadership post last June. She will remain on the M. D. Anderson faculty on a reduced schedule. "Dr. Kripke's tenure as chief academic officer has been distinguished and marked by tremendous accomplishment, for which we owe her a great debt," Mendelsohn said. "Our research and academic programs have reached new levels of achievement and national recognition under her leadership." DuBois will have responsibility and authority for M. D. Anderson's research agenda, programs, resources and space; educational programs at all levels; and all activities related to the appointment, resourcing and mentoring of faculty. DuBois will be the first executive to have the title of provost at M. D. Anderson, a term in use at most universities to describe the highest-ranking academic officer. "We have chosen this title to reflect the importance of our expanding research endeavors, our degree-granting status, and the climate of scholarship and discovery that we strive to achieve in all mission areas," Mendelsohn explained. DuBois will oversee a research program that in 2006 had expenditures of $410 million, a 95% increase over the last five years. Federal research grants totaled $182 million, including 10 SPORE (Specialized Programs of Research Excellence) grants from the National Cancer Institute, more than any other institution in the United States. In addition, M. D. Anderson is home to the largest clinical trials program for cancer in the nation, with more than 10,000 patients taking part in trials of potential new therapies for cancer. He also will lead M. D. Anderson's growing domestic and international training programs, including 15 affiliations with global sister institutions, research and clinical fellowships and residencies, graduate and bachelor degree programs and other special educational programs. In 2006, more than 4,300 students, fellows, visitors and health care professionals received training at M. D. Anderson. A native of Runge, Texas, DuBois received his bachelor's degree in biochemistry at Texas A&M University, partly supported by a scholarship from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He earned his medical degree from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, preceded by a doctorate in biochemistry from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. After a residency and fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, he joined the Vanderbilt faculty 15 years ago. He has been director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center for the last two years. In addition to directing M. D. Anderson's research activities, DuBois plans to continue his own research program. He will move his laboratory from Vanderbilt to M. D. Anderson's Smith Research Building, which is located in M. D. Anderson's new Red and Charline McCombs Institute for the Early Detection and Treatment of Cancer. He is principal investigator on three research grants from the National Institutes of Health, including one MERIT award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease. MERIT awards (Method to Extend Research in Time) are rare 10-year renewable grants reserved for a fraction of outstanding researchers funded by the NIH. His research also is supported by funding from the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance established by Katie Couric. For his research accomplishments, DuBois has received many awards, including the Outstanding Investigator Award from the American Federation of Medical Research, induction into the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom in 2000, the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Association for Cancer Research, the AACR Dorothy P. Landon Translational Research Prize in 2004 and the Anthony Dipple Carcinogenesis Award in 2006. DuBois has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology, and he is President-elect of the International Society for Gastrointestinal Cancer.

This is an open-access article

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