Willson joins CPRIT; Cobb named Interim Director of Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center
By Deborah Wormser
Dr. James K.V. Willson, who led UT Southwestern Medical Center’s successful efforts to have the Simmons Cancer Center recognized with Comprehensive status – the National Cancer Institute’s highest designation – became Chief Scientific Officer of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) effective March 1.
Dr. Melanie Cobb, Professor of Pharmacology and former Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (2003-2010) has been named Interim Director the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of only 45 so-designated centers in the nation and the only one in North Texas.
“Dr. Willson has provided outstanding leadership as Director of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern, as reflected in the enormous growth of both its groundbreaking research program and superb care for cancer patients,” said Dr. Daniel K. Podolsky, President of UT Southwestern. “CPRIT and the State of Texas are fortunate that Dr. Willson will bring his great expertise and experience to the vitally important position of Chief Scientific Officer. We will be forever grateful for his contributions to UT Southwestern over the past decade and wish him well in his new role.”
As Chief Scientific Officer at CPRIT, Dr. Willson will lead the agency’s academic research program in supporting innovation in cancer research and recruiting world-class cancer researchers to Texas institutions. To date, CPRIT has awarded 806 academic research grants totaling $1.046 billion, and CPRIT funding has helped bring 104 distinguished cancer researchers to Texas.
“I was attracted to this position because it provides an opportunity to expand the frontiers of cancer research by encouraging new discoveries with real potential to transform the way cancer is treated,” said Dr. Willson. “I look forward to building on the exceptional contributions and high standards of excellence of my predecessors – Drs. Margaret Kripke and Al Gilman.”
The late Nobel Laureate Dr. Alfred G. Gilman, Regental Professor Emeritus, former Chairman of Pharmacology and Dean of UT Southwestern Medical School, as well as former Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at UT Southwestern, served as CPRIT’s first Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Willson replaces Dr. Kripke, who retired after serving as CPRIT’s Chief Scientific Officer since 2012.
“With Jim’s addition, we have the team in place to accelerate CPRIT’s momentum,” said Wayne Roberts, CPRIT’s Chief Executive Officer. “He’ll catalyze basic cancer science and synergize translation of scientific discovery into therapies to prevent, mitigate, and cure cancer.”
Dr. Cobb, who joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 1983, said, “It’s quite an honor to take up where Dr. Willson left off. This is a particularly exciting time for research, patient care, and education, and Dr. Willson has left a strong organization in place as UT Southwestern goes forward.”
Dr. J. Gregory Fitz, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost, and Dean of UT Southwestern Medical School, said, “Dr. Cobb is well known as an outstanding scientist, campus leader, and mentor to graduate students. She has been a member of our faculty since 1983, and her work on signal transduction mechanisms and protein kinase pathways (MAPKs, WNKs, and Ste20-related protein kinases) is of international prominence and is directly related to basic mechanisms of cancer biology.”
Dr. Cobb graduated from the University of Chicago (biology), before earning a Ph.D. in biological chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis. She then conducted postdoctoral research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and at Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York City.
Her many accomplishments include identifying, purifying, and then cloning the first mammalian MAP kinases, enzymes that interact together in a series, or cascade, to carry out and regulate essential cell functions. Her research has led to the identification of possible targets for cancer drugs.
Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2006, Dr. Cobbs has been recognized with international honors that include the Max Planck Research Award, and the ASPET Goodman and Gilman Award in Drug Receptor Pharmacology in 2000.
Dr. Willson has spent more than 30 years in the field of oncology and is renowned for his work in the genetics of colorectal cancer. His research led to the development of cell and animal models for human colon cancer that have been key to identifying genetic factors in disease progression.
Dr. Willson joined UT Southwestern in 2004 and began the process for securing NCI designation and building the Simmons Cancer Center’s research and clinical enterprises.
In addition to attracting many nationally recognized cancer researchers and clinicians who now lead more than a dozen specialties at the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dr. Willson helped oversee expansion of its research and clinical facilities at the North Campus, expansion into Richardson and into Fort Worth at the Moncrief Cancer Institute, and the oncology floor at UT Southwestern’s new William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.
Prior to joining the Medical Center, Dr. Willson spent 10 years as the Director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center in Cleveland, which also received a top NCI designation during his tenure.
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Dr. Cobb holds the Jane and Bill Browning Jr. Chair in Medical Science.
Dr. Fitz holds the Nadine and Tom Craddick Distinguished Chair in Medical Science and the Atticus James Gill, M.D. Chair in Medical Science.
Dr. Podolsky holds the Philip O’Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D. Distinguished Presidential Chair in Academic Administration, and the Doris and Bryan Wildenthal Distinguished Chair in Medical Science.
