by Tom Wilemon
After 18 years of service, Ingrid Mayer, MD, MSCI, professor of Medicine and Ingram Professor of Cancer Research, is departing Vanderbilt University Medical Center for a new role as an executive with AstraZeneca.
In December she will become vice president, Global Clinical Head, Breast Cancer, and the head of Breast Cancer Research Strategy at AstraZeneca. Mayer is an internationally respected expert on identifying targetable pathways in breast cancer and mechanisms of resistance to therapies.
She has served as co-leader of the Breast Cancer Research Program at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) and chair of the VICC Data and Safety Monitoring Committee. In addition, she has been co-principal investigator of the Vanderbilt Breast SPORE (Specialized Program of Research Excellence), a longstanding initiative, which in 2019 received renewed five-year funding of $11.6 million from the National Cancer Institute.
“I am very happy for Dr. Mayer and wish her continued success, but on a personal note, I am saddened because I will miss daily interactions with a dear colleague, friend and co-PI of the Vanderbilt Breast SPORE,” said Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, director of VICC and Executive Vice President for Research at VUMC.
Mayer was recruited to Vanderbilt in 2003 from Hospital Sirio Libanes in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She received her medical degree from the Federal University of Sao Paulo, then she completed a residency in internal medicine followed by a fellowship in hematology and oncology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She received a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 2006.
She has been a principal investigator on more than 100 clinical trials — more than 20 have been investigator-initiated. Under her co-leadership, the Breast Cancer Research Program received an “exceptional” merit rating for the last two NCI Cancer Center Support Grant renewals and has achieved the largest clinical trials portfolio at VICC. In addition, she has authored almost 100 studies published in medical journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Communications, The Lancet Oncology and JAMA Oncology.
“During her time at Vanderbilt, she has been a compassionate physician, thoughtful colleague, patient listener and transformational investigator. Her expertise in breast cancer spans its many forms and subtypes. In her new role, she will continue to advance and improve treatments for breast cancer,” said Pietenpol, the Benjamin F. Byrd Jr. Professor of Oncology and holder of the Brock Family Directorship in Career Development.