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Hope this email find you doing well.
Just want to let you know, after almost 2 year of waiting, I finally get to step down as chairman of the department and become a regular faculty. Without all the administrative duties of running a department, I will have more freedom to focus on my research as well as working on a couple national projects to push the research agenda for GBM research so to move the survival needle further and faster. Personally, I am in good health, thanks to God. I am still on chemotherapy but the side effect is very minimal, so much so that I am able to pick up more travels. I will be giving a few lectures in Beijing this weekend and do some sightseeing with Susie as well.
Best
Al

W.K. Alfred Yung, M.D.
Chairman, Department of Neuro-Oncology
Margaret and Ben Love Chair in Clinical Cancer Care
UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Unit 431
1515 Holcombe Blvd
Houston, TX 77030
Tele: 713-794-1285
Fax: 713-563-0151
wyung@mdanderson.org

From: Dr. Ethan Dmitrovsky
Sent: Friday, October 02, 2015 7:24 AM
Subject: Leadership change in Neuro-Oncology

Dear Colleagues:

In 2013, Alfred Yung, M.D., decided to step down as Chair of Neuro-Oncology. At that time he agreed to remain serving as Chair during the search process. He has decided now that the time is right for him to transition the department's leadership responsibilities. Dr. Yung has provided 16 years of distinguished leadership service, for which we are extraordinarily grateful. He will continue building on his impressive clinical and scientific contributions as Professor of Neuro-Oncology.
We are pleased that John de Groot, M.D., has agreed to serve as Chair ad interim effective Oct. 19.
Dr. de Groot came to MD Anderson in 2002 to complete his clinical fellowship in Neuro-Oncology. Upon completion in 2004, he joined our faculty as assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 2010. In 2008, he became Director of our Neuro-Oncology Fellowship Program. In recent years, Dr. de Groot has assumed increasing and important leadership roles within the department. In 2013, he became Director of Clinical Research. In 2014, he became co-leader with Drs. Amy Heimberger and Fred Lang of the Glioblastoma pilot Moon Shot and also was appointed Deputy Department Chair. Earlier this year, he became Associate Clinical Medical Director for our Brain and Spine Center. Dr. de Groot has an active clinical practice while conducting creative research in the fields of understanding the mechanisms of resistance to antiangiogenic therapy, biomarkers of response and resistance to antiangiogenic agents, and the translation of laboratory discoveries in angiogenesis and targeted and immunotherapies into novel clinical trials that seek to change clinical practice for neuro-oncology patients.
Dr. Yung joined MD Anderson as an assistant professor in 1981. He rose through the academic ranks and assumed increasing levels of critical responsibility and leadership. From 1984 to 1999, he served as deputy chair of Neuro-Oncology. In 1991, he was named chief of the Section of Consultative Neuro-Oncology. From 1995-1999, he served as medical director of the Neuro and Supportive Care Center. From 1999 to 2002, he served as department Chair ad interim and has served as Chair since 2002. In 2001, he became co-director of the Brain Tumor Center, which he expanded through collaboration with co-director Dr. Raymond Sawaya.
During his tenure, Dr. Yung broadened the reach of the department, which now includes 23 faculty, and fellowship programs in Neuro-Oncology and Neuro-Psychology. Our Neuro-Oncology department is considered one of the most decisive programs in the country, combining innovative basic and translational research with cutting-edge clinical trials. The department's faculty members have achieved great accomplishments under Dr. Yung's leadership, including our Brain SPORE, the D24 smart oncolytic virus program, leadership in the NCI-funded CNS tumor clinical trial consortia, and creation of the Brain Tumor Trial Collaborative, to cite only a few examples.
Dr. Yung is an exceptional physician-scientist, who is a pioneer in the field of neuro-oncology. His research, which primarily focuses on molecular therapeutic strategies targeting EGFR and PTEN/PI3K pathways, has been continuously funded by NCI for more than 30 years. He has made major contributions, including leading the seminal study that led to FDA approval of temozolomide for glioblastoma in 1997, cloning the PTEN gene with Dr. Peter Steck, and co-leading the registration study leading to approval of bevacizumab for recurrent glioblastoma (GBM). Over the past three decades, Dr. Yung has had a major role in the development of almost every major class of drugs in neuro-oncology, with a focus on targeted molecular therapies and anti-angiogenic therapies.
In 2009, he became Co-PI with Drs. John Weinstein and Gordon Mills for the NCI MD Anderson The Cancer Genome Atlas Genome Data Analysis Center (TCGA GDAC) grant, and, in 2011, he received a CPRIT individual investigator grant to study resistance mechanisms in GBM.
Dr. Yung is respected nationally and internationally, and he has served the profession generously through leadership roles including as co-chair of the RTOG Brain Tumor Committee from 1995-2001, co-chair of the NCI Brain Malignancy Steering Committee since 2010 and chairman of the Strategic Advisory Board for the National Brain Tumor Society since 2011. He also has served as editor-in-chief of Neuro-Oncology since 2006.
Dr. Yung has mentored a generation of neuro-oncology fellows, faculty and post-doctoral fellows, many of whom now are recognized as national leaders.
His scholarship has shaped and advanced the field of neuro-oncology, specifically our understanding of the molecular biology of low-grade gliomas. In recognition of his remarkable contributions, he recently received the Basic Science Research Prize from the Society for Neuro-Oncology, which further honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Please join us in thanking Dr. Yung for his dedication and years of notable leadership. Likewise, please also thank Dr. de Groot for accepting these vital leadership responsibilities. We are confident that his leadership will continue and build upon the positive momentum of the department.


Sincerely,

Ethan Dmitrovsky, M.D.
Provost and Executive Vice President


Thomas Buchholz, M.D.

Executive Vice President and Physician-in-Chief

Thomas Burke, M.D.
Executive Vice President and Physician-in-Chief
Patrick Hwu, M.D.
Division Head, Cancer Medicine
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