John C. Byrd has been named UPMC Hillman Cancer Center director

John C. Byrd, an internationally lauded researcher and clinical specialist in hematologic malignancies, has been appointed director of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, one of the nation’s premier National Cancer Institute-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, effective November 2025.

In his role as director, Byrd will hold overall responsibility and authority for all aspects of the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC’s basic, translational and clinical cancer-related research as well as outreach and education. In addition, Byrd will serve as Pitt’s associate vice chancellor for cancer affairs and be recommended for appointment to hold the Hillman Professorship of Oncology in the School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine.

In an accomplished career spanning nearly three decades, Byrd has excelled at cultivating environments where educational opportunities, research creativity and rapid clinical translation of novel discoveries can thrive in tandem. Since 2021, he has served as the Gordon and Helen Hughes Taylor Professor and chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine as well as chief of internal medicine services at UC Health. He also serves as a senior advisor to the UC Cancer Center, where he spearheaded the development and launch of the Blood Cancer Healing Center, the only blood cancer center in the nation where patients benefit from bench-to-bedside research and receive all their care — inpatient and outpatient, survivorship, integrative medicine and spiritual care — in one accessible building.  

Byrd has more than 700 publications in the area of leukemia and experimental therapeutics research and runs a highly translational laboratory focused on chronic lymphocytic leukemia and drug development in hematologic malignancies. He has been part of the successful development of multiple therapeutics, holds 23 patents and serves on the scientific advisory boards of seven therapeutics companies, two of which he founded.

Prior to joining UC, Byrd served as senior advisor for cancer experimental therapeutics and Distinguished University Professor at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute. During his 20-year career with Ohio State, he also helped to build the Division of Hematology as its founding director. He has been invited to present at more than 315 national and international scientific meetings and conferences, has authored 35 book chapters, and mentored more than 90 fellows, residents, PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and faculty members. His own research has been continually funded by industry, federal agencies and leading cancer philanthropies since 1997.

Byrd earned his MD from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; completed his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in hematology, oncology and bone marrow transplantation at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center; and completed his translational laboratory training at Johns Hopkins University.