Biography

Thomas P. Loughran, Jr., MD

Thomas P. Loughran Thomas P. Loughran, Jr., MD, is the director of the UVA Cancer Center, F. Palmer Weber-Smithfield Foods Professor of Oncology Research. and professor of medicine.

Dr. Loughran’s leadership has led to the transformation of UVA Cancer Center. The NCI CCSG was renewed in 2017 with an Outstanding rating, the highest score ever for UVA. UVA Cancer Center is ranked number 30 in the US News & World Report rankings, a startling rise from 67 just two years prior. Clinical volumes have increased remarkably, with a 50-percent increase in patient visits and a doubling of infusion treatments. Clinical trial accrual has also doubled in the past three years, and 42 faculty members have been recruited to UVA Cancer Center since January 2016. The goal of UVA Cancer Center is to achieve comprehensive status at its next renewal application in 2021.

Dr. Loughran’s career as a physician scientist is a testament to translational research, beginning with his discovery of large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia. He has published over 260 articles in high-impact peer-reviewed journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Lancet, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Blood.

Dr. Loughran has had continuous federal funding for his laboratory over the past 32 years. Direct-cost research funding awarded to Dr. Loughran has been more than $47 million over his career. Current funding to his laboratory includes R01 and P01 grants. He has mentored 15 PhD and MD students over the past 10 years and has also secured large institutional training grants. He was the inaugural director of the K12 grant awarded to Moffitt Cancer Center in 2002.  Currently, he serves as multi-PI on a T32 Transdisciplinary Big Data Science Training at UVA. A testimony to Dr. Loughran as physician-mentor (ASCO Voices: “Heroes, Mentors, and Hope”) from Dr. Trevor Bayliss is accessible to ASCO members on their website.

From July 2003 to August 2013, Dr. Loughran served as the founding director of the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute and professor of medicine at the Penn State College of Medicine. He previously served as program leader of hematologic malignancies at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute at the University of South Florida, associate director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program at SUNY Health Science Center, and chief of hematology at the Syracuse Veteran's Affairs Medical Center in Syracuse, NY.

Dr. Loughran completed his fellowship in medical oncology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center under direction of Nobel Prize recipient Dr. E.D. Thomas, and remained on the faculty there for seven years.