Following a national search, David Darr has been named associate director of Administration and senior director for Research Strategy and Operations for Duke Cancer Institute, effective August 15. As part of this role, Darr will serve as the direct administrator for DCI's Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) — vital funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) that supports DCI’s broad range of clinical, research, and educational programs aimed at reducing the impact of cancer on the lives of people in North Carolina and beyond.
Darr joins DCI from the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he served as the associate director for Administration and Planning. In this position, he had oversight for the Center’s shared resources, space allocation and maintenance, grants management, development awards, finance, strategic planning and evaluation, as well as coordination of programmatic, education, and training activities. He was also the first director for the Mouse Phase 1 Unit (MP1U), a preclinical murine testing facility and core resource for Center faculty.
Darr has extensive experience as a leader in academic medical centers, having represented UNC Lineberger on multiple university committees, including Science and Security, Shared Resources, and Space Planning. He also has a national profile. Darr serves as an external advisory board reviewer for multiple cancer centers and as an NIH Cancer Center Site Visitor. He also holds committee positions in the Cancer Center Administrators Forum (CCAF) and the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) and will continue to serve in these roles.
"Upon his arrival, David will work with Karen Kharasch (the outgoing senior director for Research Strategy and Operations) toward the competitive renewal of the CCSG in January of 2024," said Michael B. Kastan, MD, PhD, executive director of DCI, in a written announcement to DCI faculty and staff welcoming Darr to the DCI senior leadership team.
"I want to extend a special thanks to Karen for her dedicated work and leadership. While serving as senior director, she guided a very successful competitive renewal of the CCSG in 2019, led the reorganization of clinical research infrastructure, and provided outstanding oversight of DCI’s Shared Resources," said Kastan. "Additionally, she played an integral role in strengthening partnerships and support of our Community, Outreach, Engagement and Equity program, academic metrics and systems, as well as Population Sciences Department and DCI Research Programs. I’m delighted that she will be staying on at DCI as a consultant on our CCSG work."
