Gillespie named the first Looney Family Endowed Professor in Cancer Research
Theresa Gillespie, PhD, MA, BSN, FAAN
From left to right — Bruce Dick, Sylvia Dick, Suresh Ramalingam, MD, Ali Blaisdell, Andrew Blaisdell, Theresa Gillespie, PhD, MA, BSN, FAAN, Sagar Lonial, MD, and Amy Hurst.
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University researcher Theresa Gillespie, PhD, MA, BSN, FAAN, has been named the inaugural Looney Family Endowed Professor in Cancer Research.
Endowed with a generous gift from the Martha and Wilton Looney Foundation, the professorship will provide Gillespie with sustained support as she leads research efforts with cross-cutting themes of disparities, outcomes measurement, educational interventions and decision-making across multiple cancer types.
“Our family believes in Winship Cancer Institute, and we want the doctors and researchers who work there to have as much support as possible,” says Sylvia Looney Dick, who chairs the Martha and Wilton Looney Foundation. While the family’s immediate concern is breast cancer research, “we have multiple friends with several different forms of cancer,” she says. “Our hope is that whatever insight is gained through this professorship will be effective across the board.”
Endowed professorships are designed to support faculty members who are poised to shape the future of Emory and improve the world through their research, teaching and scholarship.
“This is a remarkable gift, and we thank the Looney family for their extraordinary generosity,” says Suresh Ramalingam, MD, FACP, FASCO, Winship’s executive director and the Roberto C. Goizueta Distinguished Chair for Cancer Research at Emory University School of Medicine. “Dr. Gillespie is an eminent cancer researcher and leader and a natural fit to hold this inaugural professorship.”
Gillespie is a professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology with a joint appointment in the Department of Surgery at Emory University School of Medicine. She also serves as Winship’s associate director for cancer health equity and community engagement, providing vision and oversight for community-facing activities, including interventions in cancer disparities, risk mitigation, prevention and control throughout the state of Georgia.
With longstanding experience leading extramurally funded studies, Gillespie has investigated health disparities and guideline-concordant care in rural, underserved and minority populations in the U.S. and low- and middle-income countries. She co-leads the HIV Malignancy Research Group for the Emory Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and has been funded to investigate cancer disparities among people living with HIV. She also serves as principal investigator of Data Detectives and for Georgia Youth Enjoy Science (YES), two NIH-funded programs designed to reduce health and workforce disparities, which uses community case studies to engage middle schoolers and rural high school students in STEM and biomedical research.
“Being named as the first Looney Family Endowed Professor in Cancer Research is a huge honor, and a humbling opportunity to ensure that this support and recognition generate real impact to reduce the burden of cancer across the state of Georgia and beyond,” says Gillespie. “My research throughout my entire career has been focused on patient- and community-centered interventions to increase access to quality care, to ensure diverse representation on clinical trials, to promote greater cancer health equity, and to disseminate new discoveries and evidence to underserved populations. The Looney Family Professorship will support these efforts in tangible ways and create unanticipated opportunities for new research initiatives.”