Letai Takes Helm as NCI Director
Dr. Anthony Letai was sworn in on Sept. 29 as director of NIH’s National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Letai takes the helm at NCI after serving as professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He possesses decades of experience studying cell death in cancer, developing treatments and identifying predictive biomarkers.
“Dr. Letai has been immersed in the relevant science for decades and has been on the cutting edge of how we think about cancer treatment,” said NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. “His drive, integrity and expertise make him the right leader to harness the resources and talent at NCI to reverse America’s cancer crisis.”
Letai said the appointment is a great honor. “We will work around the clock to identify cancer’s root causes, predictive biomarkers and most effective treatments,” he said. “Advances in understanding cell death and replication are essential [in the fight against cancer].”
Letai’s research has been central to bringing venetoclax, a BCL-2 inhibitor, from the laboratory to the clinic. His lab work has led to advancements in knowledge of both liquid and solid tumors, as well as a wide range of treatments, including cellular immunotherapies.
After graduating from Princeton University with a bachelor’s in physics, Letai received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He completed his Ph.D. on the molecular basis of heritable blistering diseases before residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a clinical fellowship in hematology and oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Letai began his studies of programmed cell death in cancer in a postdoctoral fellowship before establishing his laboratory at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.