Cancer institute fills new post

Huntsman Cancer Institute Executive Director Mary Beckerle, Ph.D., has named David Jones, Ph.D., to the newly created position of senior director of Early Translational Research. That means he will oversee the process of turning laboratory experiment discoveries into treatments for patients.

His responsibilities will include recruiting faculty to strengthen HCI's translational research activities, establishing a screening and preclinical testing resource for potential new drugs and enhancing communication among HCI translational researchers and the broader research community. He assumes his duties immediately.

Jones is an associate professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah and is adjunct associate professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry. He currently serves as leader of HCI's Cancer Center Support Grant Gastrointestinal Cancers Program and has been pivotal in development and implementation of the HCI Director's Translational Research Initiative and the Translational Research Development Partnership.

Prior to joining HCI, Jones worked in the pharmaceutical industry as a senior research scientist and program team leader for Pharmacia and Upjohn Inc.