Kevin Cullen, MD

A widely recognized oncologist with a specialty in head and neck cancer, Dr. Cullen is a former director of the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center. At the Center, which is ranked as one of the nation’s top cancer programs, Dr. Cullen oversaw a staff of 275 physicians and researchers. Under his leadership, the cancer center expanded its clinical and research programs significantly and was named a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in 2008. During his tenure, the Center received more than $61 million in research funding annually and hosted over 230 clinical trials.

Dr. Cullen’s own laboratory examines the mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in head and neck cancer. Specifically, his group has demonstrated that specific biochemical markers are important predictors of response to the chemotherapy drug cisplatin in head and neck tumors—and that those same markers also predict the disease prognosis. His team was also the first to describe racial survival disparities in head and neck cancer. In 2011, he was appointed by President Obama to a five-year term as a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board, an advisory committee to the National Cancer Institute. He has been chosen to serve as chairman of the Board of the American Cancer Society.