Adam Dicker, Chief Medical Officer of OncoHost and Senior Vice President, Enterprise Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Wally Curran chaired this department before going on to lead RTOG, then NRG Oncology, then Winship Cancer Institute, and now Piedmont Oncology. This month, I was named to the Professorship that carries his name.
Effective July 1, I became the Walter Curran Professor of Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University’s Sidney Kimmel Medical College.
A few things this actually means, beyond the honor:
- Endowed chairs are a five-year commitment, renewable – Jefferson is investing in a research direction, not just recognizing past work.
- They come with latitude to pursue harder, longer-horizon questions than grant cycles usually allow.
- They’re a signal to faculty about what the institution chooses to protect.
This lands at a specific moment for Jefferson. Sidney Kimmel Medical College Thomas Jefferson University is building the infrastructure for a competitive Clinical and Translational Science Award application – the NIH’s largest single investment in translational research infrastructure – over the next 1-2 years. A named chair in a clinical department isn’t separate from that effort; it’s part of the same bet on building a durable research engine, not just funding individual projects.
Dr. Curran taught me what a clinical trialist is and opened opportunities for me in clinical and translational research.
Thank you, Wally Curran.
The work itself doesn’t change on July 1. What changes is the runway.
Thank you to the Jefferson Leadership, Said Ibrahim Dr Susan Aldridge.”
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