It is my pleasure to announce that Dr. Timothy Ley, the Lewis T. and Rosalind B. Apple Chair in Oncology, Professor of Medicine and of Genetics and Director of the Section of Stem Cell Biology in the Division of Oncology has joined the leadership team of the Oliver Langenberg Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP) as Co-director.
Dr. Ley did his undergraduate work at Drake University prior to matriculating into Washington University School of Medicine. After Medicine residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Ley trained in Hematology and Oncology at the NIH in Bethesda, MD, and at Washington University. Dr. Ley established his laboratory research program at the NIH prior to recruitment to the faculty at Washington University as an Assistant Professor in 1986.
During his career at Washington University, Dr. Ley has received numerous accolades and awards. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the Association of American Physicians (AAP), the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He served as President of the ASCI and as a Council Member and Treasurer of the AAP. He served as Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Human Genome Research Institute, and was appointed by President Obama to the National Cancer Advisory Board, where he continues to serve.
Of great relevance to the PSTP, Dr. Ley has had a longstanding interest in the physician-scientist career path, and was a key advocate for the passage of the Extramural Loan Repayment Bill by the U.S. Congress in 2000; this program has reduced the debt burden for thousands of young physician-scientists. He has authored important studies of the career path in the New England Journal of Medicine, FASEB Journal, JAMA, and Science, and was the data analyst for the NIH’s Physician Scientist Workforce Study in 2014.
Dr. Ley is an extraordinary physician-scientist with great expertise in mentoring and career development. He has mentored 20 PhD students and 35 post-doctoral fellows in his lab, 17 of whom have received mentored Career Development (K) Awards from the NIH; 18 of his trainees are currently on the faculty at Washington University School of Medicine. He will be a wonderful addition to our PSTP leadership team. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Ley as the new Co-director of the PSTP in the Department of Medicine.