[Updated 3/17/17 5:32 pm. See below.] Houston—The University of Texas System has named Marshall Hicks the interim president of the MD Anderson Cancer Center, according to a memo to employees obtained by Xconomy.
Hicks, whose appointment is official March 21, replaces Ronald DePinho, who resigned earlier this month.
[Updated with comment from MD Anderson.] MD Anderson said DePinho now becomes “past president” and a member of the faculty. “This change will enable him to focus on his areas of greatest interest, which include science and innovation, cancer moonshot and national policy,” Brette Payton, an MD Anderson spokeswoman said in an e-mail. “With less administrative burden, he will work to contribute to the institution and the field as much as possible.”
DePinho’s resignation announcement came via a six-minute video in which he spoke of MD Anderson’s accomplishments and apologizes for the ways in which he might have performed better. “I could have done a better job administratively; I could’ve done a better job listening,” he said at the time. “I could’ve done a better job communicating. Forgive me for my shortcomings. I regret them.”
Hicks, 59, has been MD Anderson’s division head of diagnostic imaging since 2015. A UT System memo announcing his appointment called him one of the institution’s “most experienced division heads” and said he has “played a leading role in the development of the institution’s shared governance committee.”
Though DePinho had asked to stay on at MD Anderson through the end of the Texas Legislature’s session, which ends in May, UT said DePinho’s retirement is effective March 20.
UT said it will soon start a national search for a permanent president, a process that will include the appointment of a search advisory committee. The committee is expected to recommend top candidates to the UT System Board of Regents by the end of the year.
Hicks specializes in interventional radiology and served nationally as former president of the Society of Interventional Radiology. The author of more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications, Hicks has participated in clinical research studies of different types of cancers, including those involving the lung, liver, colon, head, and neck.
