Dr. A. Craig Lockhart named new Division Director of Hematology & Oncology at MUSC

It is with great pleasure that I announce the appointment of A. Craig Lockhart, M.D., M.H.S., as our new Director of the Division of Hematology & Oncology, effective April 1. He will also serve as Associate Director for Clinical Science at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center (HCC). Dr. Lockhart’s experience as an academic leader, clinical trialist, and esteemed member of the medical oncology community will serve him well as he leads the division and HCC to new heights.

Dr. Lockhart currently is a tenured professor at the University of Miami (UM) Miller School of Medicine and Associate Director for Regional and Strategic Research Affiliations for the UM Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center (SCCC). He has a strong track record of building and growing a successful oncology division while also supporting research and scholarship.

At UM SCCC, Dr. Lockhart serves in several roles, including Chief of the Division of Oncology. He also serves as Chief of Service for Oncology as part of the University of Miami Medical Group. In this role, he works to encourage a patient-centric approach, overseeing and maintaining quality-of-care standards and developing standardized and evidence-based treatment guidelines.

In his role as Clinical Service Leader for the Oncology Service Line, he has facilitated recruitment and retention efforts for physicians in the SCCC network and created efficient multidisciplinary care models for both standard-of-care and research care at the main campus and all satellites. As Associate Director for Regional and Strategic Research Affiliations, he has been instrumental in building clinical research at current and future satellite locations, along with establishing new collaborative efforts with local and/or national partners.

Prior to joining the University of Miami, Dr. Lockhart served on faculty and in leadership roles at Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. / Siteman Comprehensive Cancer Center, and at Vanderbilt University / Vanderbilt-Ingram Comprehensive Cancer Center.

He has been conducting early phase clinical trials for over 20 years and has been a principal investigator on over 100 Phase I/II and III trials. His specific research interests are to develop and conduct Phase I/II clinical trials of novel therapeutics applied to his specialty area of research, gastrointestinal cancers. In treating these cancers, he aims to incorporate novel agents or molecular/genetic based treatment into therapeutic trials in the pursuit of personalized cancer care. He has developed and led multi-institutional clinical trials involving the treatment of GI tumors through national cooperative groups as well as investigator-initiated studies. He has been an investigator and co-investigator on individual grants, on successful SPORE grant applications and on successful multi-institutional UM1 grant applications.

Dr. Lockhart has also served on several committees for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) including the Scientific and Career Development committees. He has been a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines committee for gastric and esophageal cancers. He also serves as faculty at the ASCO/AACR Methods in Clinical Cancer Research Workshop, mentoring fellows and junior faculty on the development of GI cancer therapeutic protocols.

Dr. Lockhart graduated from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas in 1993. He completed residency training at Barnes Hospital at Washington University, fellowship training in hematology/oncology at Duke University, and a fellowship in drug development at GlaxoSmithKline in the North Carolina Research Triangle Park. He also earned a masters of health science (MHS) in clinical trials at Duke University. He completed his undergraduate degree, a bachelor’s degree in biology, from Rice University.

We are extremely excited to have Dr. Lockhart join our team. I believe that he brings the skills to build upon our existing strengths and significantly enhance and elevate our Hematology & Oncology Division along with building clinical trials efforts at Hollings Cancer Center. He will join MUSC on April 1, and will be working on campus and remote until he transitions to being on campus full-time in September.

I also would like to take a moment to recognize and thank Dr. Michael Lilly for his leadership and work as Interim Director during this time. We are equally grateful to the members of the search committee, chaired by Dr. Michelle Hudspeth, for their commitment and dedication.

Please join me in extending a warm welcome to Dr. Lockhart.

Sincerely,

Ben Clyburn, M.D.
Professor and Interim Chair
Department of Medicine