Career advancement at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Approach, model and impact of continual transformation

Author's Biography

Courtney L. Holladay , PhD, is the Associate Vice President of the Leadership Institute within Human Resources at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees in Industrial Organisational Psychology from Rice University, holds her licence as a psychologist in the state of Texas and has earned her International Coach Federation credentials as an executive coach at the professional certified coach level. With more than 20 years of experience in healthcare, Dr Holladay currently leads programmes in the Leadership Institute focused on leadership development, enveloping curricula, mentoring, coaching, selection, surveys and assessments, change enablement, teams and personalised development for faculty and administrative leaders. She focuses her team on evaluating the effectiveness of their programmes, ensuring evidence underlies their translation across the organisation. Dr Holladay is the author of numerous peer-reviewed papers in journals such as Journal of Business and Psychology, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Journal of Applied Psychology and Leadership and Organisation Development.

Ernest Hawk , MD, MPH, is the Vice President and Head of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences and the Boone Pickens Distinguished Chair for Early Cancer Prevention at The MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr Hawk began his academic career at the National Cancer Institute and worked for many years in preventive drug identification, preclinical testing and clinical development. Now at MD Anderson (since 2008), he provides administrative oversight and promotes academic collaborations across the division’s five academic departments: Epidemiology, Behavioural Science, Clinical Cancer Prevention, Health Disparities Research and Health Services Research. Each year, the division receives ~US$25m to support research advances, delivers clinical screening and preventive services to about 35,000 individuals and supports 150–200 students and trainees to bolster careers in cancer prevention and control. Dr Hawk also co-leads the MD Anderson’s Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) component, which plans, implements and evaluates evidence-based actions involving public policy, public/professional education and the delivery of community-based clinical and public health services beyond the institution’s walls.

Stacie Scruggs , MPH, is the Director for Research Planning and Development in the Division of Surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. With a focus on team science, she has served to advance the research mission of the institution for over 20 years. In her role, Stacie contributes to the development and implementation of the division’s strategic research plans, manages research information and KPIs, and prioritises tailored efforts to support surgeon scientists and early-career investigators. Stacie has provided administrative leadership for many intra and inter-divisional research efforts, including cancer centre support grant programmes, and the Centre for Energy Balance in Cancer Prevention and Survivorship. She received a BA in psychology with a minor in biology from The University of Texas, Austin, and an MPH in epidemiology from the UT School of Public Health.

Timothy H. Jones is the Director of Executive Recruitment within the division of Human Resources at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Auburn University. With more than 25 years in executive search and 16 years in healthcare, Timothy leads the team responsible for recruiting executives at the director level and above. He is a certified coach through The Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University and serves as leadership coach and mentor at MD Anderson. Prior to his career in executive search, he spent 15 years working for Silicon Valley technology companies in various technical support, training and leadership positions.

Deralyn Miller , MBA, FACHE, is the Director, Diagnostic Operations Business Development, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDA). She received her master’s in business administration (MBA) from Southern Methodist University. She is also a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE). With over 20 years of healthcare leadership experience, Deralyn currently leads the analysis, planning, implementation and evaluation of diagnostic imaging of new business models and processes as they relate to MDA service line geographical expansion. Deralyn has served in executive leadership roles across multiple business segments within ambulatory operations, chief medical executive operations, radiation oncology and diagnostic imaging.

Allyson H. Kinzel , JD, is the Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer for the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. As senior vice president, she oversees three legal and regulatory departments: Legal Services, Internal Audit and the Office of Institutional Compliance. Kinzel is responsible for identifying and managing risk across the institution, leading auditing and monitoring efforts and ensuring the institution’s compliance with federal and state laws. Before serving in this role, Kinzel worked for 10 years in Institutional Compliance at MD Anderson and was Vice President and Chief Compliance and Ethics Officer from 2014 to 2018. Prior to coming to MD Anderson, Kinzel represented healthcare providers as a partner at Baker Hostetler, LLP, and as an attorney at Vinson and Elkins, LLP. She holds a bachelor’s in art history from Trinity University, and she earned her law degree at Tulane Law School, where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif, an honour society for US law school graduates who graduate in the top 10 per cent of their class. Kinzel was formerly president of the Houston Bar Association’s Health Law Section.

Elizabeth L. Travis , PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology. Dr Travis received her doctorate in experimental pathology from the University of South Carolina. A distinguished biomedical researcher in the area of radiation oncology, she has been on the faculty at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center since 1982 and was promoted to Professor with Tenure in 1988. Dr Travis is a pioneer in the study of pulmonary complications of cancer therapy and is widely recognised as an expert in this field. She has written or contributed to chapters on lung complications for many textbooks and has authored or co-authored more than 125 original publications. She is past president of the Radiation Research Society and the first radiobiologist to be elected to the Board of Directors for the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.