David Tuveson, MD, PhD, will join Duke Health as executive director of the Duke Cancer Institute (DCI), effective October 31, 2026.
Tuveson, a preeminent cancer biologist, is currently the Roy J. Zuckerberg Professor of Cancer Research and director of the National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. He is also the chief scientist for the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research.
Tuveson is known for developing the first mouse and organoid models of pancreatic cancer and identifying subtypes of cancer-associated fibroblasts. Since developing the first mouse model of pancreatic cancer in 2002, discoveries by his lab team have revealed the molecular drivers of this disease and have led to promising new treatment options. Their approaches include designing new organoid model systems of disease and developing new therapeutic and diagnostic approaches for rapid evaluation in preclinical and clinical settings.
In honor of his groundbreaking research, Tuveson was awarded the Rita Allen Foundation Scholar Award, the Luminary Award from the Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancers, the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Lustgarten Foundation, and the Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence. In 2022, he was on Clarivate’s list of the most cited researchers. Tuveson was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Association of American Physicians. He is also a Fellow of the Academy of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), was elected to the AACR Board of Directors in 2018, and he served as AACR president from 2021 to 2022.
As executive director, Tuveson will lead the DCI, one of the nation's premier cancer centers and a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. For more than 50 years, the DCI has been at the forefront of cancer research and care, bringing together more than 400 researchers and physicians to advance discoveries and treatments that improve the lives of patients across North Carolina and beyond.