James W. Welsh

James W. Welsh, MD, Head of Immuno Radiation, is a Tenured Physician Scientist and faculty member at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Welsh started his oncology career in the Department of Molecular Oncology at Genentech Inc., at an exciting time when some of the first personalized target therapies were developed. While at Genentech he helped to discover and clone the Wnt-Induced secreted proteins (WISP) family of oncogenes. He later attended Dartmouth Medical School, and completed a residency in radiation oncology at the University of Arizona, where he helped develop a novel drug targeting c-Met kinase (MP-470). At MD Anderson, Dr. Welsh is the director of the immune radiation program, with has goal of using radiation to turn the tumor into an “in-situ” vaccine in order to prime T cells, turning radiation into a systemic therapy. Being able to both see patients and run a lab has provided insights on how to improve patient care which have resulted in the founding of three new companies Healios Oncology, MolecularMatch and OncoResponse.