Alum named executive director, Mayo Clinic Cancer Programs

Cheryl Willman, M.D. (MED ’81, PATH ’81), was named executive director of Mayo Clinic Cancer Programs and director of Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Willman comes to Mayo Clinic from the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, where she served as executive director and CEO for 20 years.

Dr. Willman will lead the expansion and strategic development of Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center sites in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota, as well as newly developing Mayo Clinic global cancer programs in London and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Dr. Willman is a pioneer in cancer precision medicine. Her research focuses on the use of genomic, next-generation genome sequencing and computational technologies to discover novel cancer-causing genomic mutations that can be translated to better cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. She has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for more than 30 years.

Dr. Willman received her medical degree from Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. She completed residency and postdoctoral training in pathology and cancer research at Mayo Clinic, the University of New Mexico and the University of Washington.