![[The University of Arizona Cancer Center]](https://deptmedicine.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/azcc-uc_building-horiz-625x300px-96dpi_1.jpg "University of Arizona Cancer Center")
Three division chiefs from the Department of Medicine – Juanita L. Merchant, MD, PhD, Rachna T. Shroff, MD, MS, FASCO, and Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski, MD – will lead the University of Arizona Cancer Center with the departure of former director Joann Sweasy, PhD.
The news came in the form of a Sept. 26 announcement by Michael D. Dake, MD, senior vice president, University of Arizona Health Sciences, about Dr. Sweasy having been named director of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center and the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
![[Light-brown-haired woman wearing glasses wearing a blue-green business top]](https://deptmedicine.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/sweasy-joann-phd_100x150px.jpg "Joann Sweasy, PhD")
Dr. Sweasy joined the UArizona Cancer Center in 2019 and had led it since 2020. Her tenure included the successful renewal of the center’s status as a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, a corresponding five-year Cancer Center Support Grant and an $8.5 million gift to establish the Ginny L. Clements Breast Cancer Research Institute.
![[Head-and-shoulder photos of three women, one with gray hear wearing a blue-and-white vertical striped blouse, one with dark wavy hair wearing a maroon blouse and one with brown hair wearing a black blouse]](https://deptmedicine.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/drs.merchant-shroff-and-curiel_310x150px-96dpi.png "Juanita Merchant, MD, PhD, Rachna Shroff, MD, MS, and Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski, MD")
Going forward, Gastroenterology and Hepatology Division Chief Dr. Merchant, will serve as the UArizona Cancer Center’s interim director. Dr. Shroff, interim chief of the Hematology and Oncology Division, is now the center’s interim clinical affairs director. And Dermatology Division Chief Dr. Curiel-Lewandrowski, who also is co-director of the UArizona Skin Cancer Institute, serves as the center’s interim director of research.
![[Peter and Paula Fasseas Cancer Clinic at the UArizona Cancer Center North Campus]](https://deptmedicine.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/uacc-north_131_f-sml-lighter-300x200px.jpg "Peter and Paula Fasseas Cancer Clinic at the UArizona Cancer Center North Campus")
These three well-respected research leaders will serve as an executive council to lead the center as a national search for a new director gets under way.
The Cancer Center is one of 53 Comprehensive Cancer Centers designated by the NCI and the only one in Arizona.
For additional details, see Dr. Dake’s original message about UArizona Cancer Center leadership.
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"Cancer Center appoints interim leaders" | Posted Oct. 18, 2023