Forum today for VCR candidate Raphael Pollock, MD, PhD

Raphael Pollock, MD, PhD, director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center

Raphael Pollock, MD, PhD, will be on the UNMC Omaha campus today as one of the remaining candidates for the vice chancellor of research and will participate in a candidate forum.

Dr. Pollock currently serves as director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, professor in Ohio State’s Division of Surgical Oncology and holder of the Klotz Chair in Cancer Research. He also serves as director of The Ohio State University Sarcoma Research Laboratory.  

Each candidate for the vice chancellor of research will meet the campus community at a Zoom forum, introducing themselves and presenting their vision for UNMC and the VCR office before taking questions.

Each forum will be from 12-1 p.m. See more information and access the forum links and candidate feedback forms here.

The other candidates include:

Yolanda Sanchez, PhD: Dr. Sanchez is associate director of basic sciences at the Dartmouth Cancer Center and associate professor of molecular and systems biology at Dartmouth College. At SYNERGY, Dartmouth’s clinical and translational science institute, Dr. Sanchez is co-director of education, training and career development and co-director of the translational pilot program. She visited the campus last week.

Ze’ev Ronai, PhD: Dr. Ronai currently serves as director of the Sanford Burnam Prebys NCI-designated cancer center in La Jolla, California, as the Jeanne and Gary Herberger Leadership Chair in Cancer Research and as a professor in the center’s tumor initiation and maintenance program. He visited the campus this week.

Kenneth Bayles, PhD: Dr. Bayles currently is associate vice chancellor for basic science research at UNMC, the associate vice chancellor for research and creative activity at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a professor in the UNMC Department of Pathology and Microbiology. He met the UNMC community as a candidate this week.

A fifth candidate may be announced at a later time. That candidate is scheduled to visit campus July 11-13 and participate in a candidate forum on July 12.

A UNMC committee is searching for a replacement for Jennifer Larsen, MD, who has been the vice chancellor of research since 2011. She announced in December 2021 that she would be stepping down from that role this year, although she will remain the Degen Professor of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at UNMC, a position she has held since 1987.