Thomas George named interim director of UF Health Cancer Institute 

David Norton, Vice President for Research

I’m pleased to share that Thomas George, M.D., an accomplished gastrointestinal medical oncologist and nationally known expert in clinical research, has agreed to serve as the interim director of the University of Florida Health Cancer Institute, effective Nov. 17, until such time as the university completes a national search for a permanent director. 

Dr. George, the institute’s deputy director for the past two-plus years and a professor in the UF College of Medicine Division of Hematology and Oncology, succeeds Jonathan Licht, M.D., the institute’s director for the past decade, who is leaving UF for another position.   

Dr. George, director of the UF Health GI Oncology Program, has deep expertise developing and leading clinical trials and specializes in early-phase cancer drug development. Before becoming deputy director in 2023, he was the institute’s associate director for clinical research for seven years.  

He helped lead the institute to achieve designation from the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, in 2023. He then spearheaded an overhaul of the institute’s strategic plan, guiding its focus and research priorities over the next decade as the institute pursues comprehensive NCI designation. His oversight of the institute’s membership expansion to now include representation from all 16 colleges helped secure the Board of Governors’ approval earlier this fall for the center to be elevated to an institute, a title conferred only upon those university units truly engaging in campuswide collaborations. 

Dr. George will continue to build on the institute’s strong foundation as its members and staff accelerate cancer research and transform care for patients in Florida and beyond. 

Dr. George is a native Floridian and completed his undergraduate degree as well as his Doctor of Medicine degree, internal medicine residency, and hematology and oncology fellowship at the University of Florida. He has extensive experience as a member of multidisciplinary collaborative research teams focusing on personalized treatment and decision-making for patients. Through leadership in national clinical trial consortia and the NCI, Dr. George is active in developing practice-changing clinical trials, as well as early-phase clinical trials testing new therapies for patients with advanced cancers. 

He holds the only NCI R50 Clinical Trial Research Specialist Award currently in the state. Dr. George served as chair of the Association of American Cancer Institutes’ Clinical Research Innovation Steering Committee, which is responsible for establishing best practices across national cancer center clinical trials offices. He holds appointments to the external advisory board or as an external consultant of a dozen NCI-designated, comprehensive or emerging cancer centers.

He is a member of the medical honor society Alpha Omega Alpha, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, or ASCO, and numerous national cancer research groups. In 2023, he was named a fellow of ASCO in recognition of his extraordinary volunteer service, engagement, dedication and commitment to the profession and patients with cancer. 

He has won numerous awards, including several Exemplary Teacher Awards, the Exemplary Mentor Award and the Master Clinician Award from the UF College of Medicine. He has also received the UF Health Cancer Institute’s Most Valuable Player Award. 

Please join me in thanking Dr. George for his willingness to serve in this important role.