Ticiana Leal, MD, has been named medical director of the Clinical Trials Office at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.
Ticiana Leal, MD, has been named medical director of the Clinical Trials Office at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. In this role, she will provide strategic medical direction and oversee the development and management of Winship’s cancer clinical trials, which offer patients new therapies and help advance cancer care.
The Winship Clinical Trials Office is the central comprehensive management service that supports the development, conduct, monitoring and data management of all clinical research conducted at Winship. As medical director, Leal will manage a robust clinical trials portfolio that provides patients with access to innovative treatment options. She will work with Amy Overby, senior director of the Clinical Trials Office, and Ajay Nooka, MD, MPH, FACP, associate director for clinical research, to support clinical investigators and ensure the quality and compliance of clinical research practices across all locations and teams.
“I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Leal to the role,” says Winship Executive Director Suresh Ramalingam, MD, FACP, FASCO. “Dr. Leal has extensive experience and expertise that will enhance Winship’s capacity to bring groundbreaking treatments to our patients.”
Leal is associate professor, director of the Thoracic Medical Oncology Program and Thoracic Oncology Disease Team Leader in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine. She specializes in caring for patients with lung cancer, mesothelioma and thymic malignancies. She has extensive experience in clinical and translational research in lung cancer. Her research experience includes leadership in the development of novel drugs targeting the angiogenic pathways (which control the formation of new blood vessels that tumors need to grow) and immune checkpoint inhibitors (a type of immunotherapy that helps the body’s immune system fight cancer) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and immune check point inhibitors and DLL3 targeting T cell engagers (a type of immunotherapy drug designed to specifically target cancer cells expressing the DLL3 protein) in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). She has been study chair or site principal investigator on several National Cancer Institute protocols investigating novel therapies in lung cancer, including studies through national clinical research networks ECOG-ACRIN and the ETCTN, and served as the ECOG-ACRIN representative in the LUNG-MAP national lung cancer clinical study and chair of the Lung-MAP, Scientific and Sub-Study Leadership Committee from 2023-2025.
“It’s an honor to serve our patients and make sure they have access to the best possible treatments, including promising clinical trial therapies,” says Leal. “I look forward to supporting our talented clinical research teams that enable life-changing advances in cancer care.”