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Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, a renowned expert in immunotherapy and a specialist in head and neck cancer, was named director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Hillman Cancer Center in Pennsylvania, effective July 1. He succeeds Nancy Davidson, MD, who departed last year. Ferris has worked at the Hillman Cancer Center for the past 15 years, serving as chief of the Division of Head and Neck Oncologic Surgery. He also served as co-leader of the Cancer Immunology Program and was most recently appointed associate director of translational research and co-director of the Tumor Microenvironment Center.

Michael J. Birrer, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist and expert in the early detection and treatment of gynecologic cancers, became director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center on August 1. He succeeds Edward E. Partridge, MD, who retired after serving in that role for the past 10 years. Previously, Birrer was director of medical gynecologic oncology and director of the gynecologic cancer research program at the Massachusetts General Hospital Gillette Cancer Center, led the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center program in gynecologic cancers, and served as a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, all in Boston.

Also this month, Ruben A. Mesa, MD, will begin his new role as director of the UT Health San Antonio Cancer Center. (UT Health San Antonio is the new name of The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio.) He replaces Ian M. Thompson, MD, who retired in January. Prior to his move to Texas, Mesa served as chair of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, as well as deputy director of the cancer center there. He is an internationally recognized expert on myeloproliferative neoplasms.

For more news on cancer research, visit Cancer Discovery online at http://cancerdiscovery.aacrjournals.org/content/early/by/section.