27 Feb Leadership change for the Institute of Translational Health Sciences
Dr. Mary “Nora” Disis, MD, principal investigator for the Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) will depart from this position, effective March 1, 2024. She will remain active in several other roles, including as Director of the UW Medicine Cancer Vaccine Institute, where she is currently at work on Phase 2 trials of a breast cancer vaccine.
Dr. John K. Amory MD, MPH, MSc will become the new principal investigator for the ITHS, also effective March 1st. Dr. Amory says Dr. Disis’ contributions to the field of translational research cannot be overstated.
“We are indebted to Dr. Disis for her immeasurable contributions to the institute. The future of ITHS looks very promising.” Dr. Amory said. “We are moving forward in exciting new directions.”
Dr. John Amory steps into PI role for ITHS March 1, 2024
Dr. Amory has been with ITHS since its inception. He is a board-certified physician at the General Internal Medicine Center at UW Medical Center-Roosevelt. He is also a UW professor of Medicine and UW’s section head of General Internal Medicine. He has published more than 110 peer reviewed papers in the field of male reproduction and holds current funding from the NIH grant for contraceptive research. For the last several years, he’s been the leader of the ITHS KL2 Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career Development program, which provides the time, funding, mentorship, and training necessary to foster the early career development of clinical and translational researchers.
”John Amory is an excellent choice to succeed Nora Disis. This role requires an experienced perspective, and Dr. Amory’s combination of research, education, and clinical practice make him the ideal candidate for the job,” says Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert, Vice Dean of Research and Graduate Education at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine. “It’s impossible to fill Dr. Disis’ shoes – she is a luminary in the field of translational science, and we are fortunate to have had her leading ITHS for as long as she did. That said, there, we are so pleased that Dr. Amory has accepted this role and thrilled to have him on board.”
Dr. Disis founded the Institute more than a decade ago, and in 2022, the Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) was granted over $63 million in funding over five years through a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health. This was the fourth Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) that ITHS has received since it began in 2007 as a partnership between the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Seattle Children’s.
Dr. Disis also serves as the Associate Dean for Translational Health Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Professor of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Pathology and Obstetrics and Gynecology at UW, and a Member of the Fred Hutch. Though she is stepping down from the PI role, she will remain an active voice within the ITHS leadership team going forward.
“For more than a decade, the ITHS has demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to its mission of creating and fostering innovation to benefit human health,” says Dr. Disis. “We are excited by the thought of a bright future for this institute, powered by the talented team that we’ve assembled.”
ITHS is supported by grant number UL1TR002319.
