People

Edison Liu, MD, who has served as the founding executive director of the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) since 2001, will become president and chief executive officer of The Jackson Laboratory in January.

In addition to growing GIS into a major research institute, Liu managed the Singapore Cancer Syndicate, a funding agency to enhance translational oncologic research, and headed the national tissue bank. He also served as chairman of the board for the Health Sciences Authority, the nation's regulatory agency for health and blood banking. Prior to his Singapore stint, he directed the Division of Clinical Sciences at the National Cancer Institute.

Liu primarily studies the functional genomics of breast cancer. [Photo courtesy of the Jackson Laboratory.]

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has named Richard Gilbertson, MD, PhD, director of its Comprehensive Cancer Center. He will also serve as an executive vice president in the organization.

Recruited to St. Jude from England in 2000, Gilbertson has led international research efforts to better understand the biology of medulloblastomas and ependymomas and has helped develop and run clinical trials to test therapies for patients with these cancers. He plans to continue his research in his new role. [Photo courtesy of St. Jude Biomedical Communications.]

Stephen X. Skapek, MD, has taken over as director of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children's Medical Center Dallas. He also became the director of UT Southwestern Medical Center's Division of Pediatric Hematology–Oncology.

Before moving to Texas, Skapek spent 4 years at the University of Chicago Children's Hospital, where he was the director of pediatric oncology. An expert on soft tumors, he has studied the molecular and genetic mechanisms that lead to cellular proliferation in childhood cancers.

George R. Buchanan, MD, who led the cancer center for more than 30 years, will continue to treat patients there. [Photo courtesy of Juan Pulido, Children's Medical Center.]