Biography

Dr. Thomas A. Sellers has extensive experience that aligns with the AACI mission to accelerate progress against cancer by enhancing the impact of academic cancer centers. He has served as a program leader, associate director, deputy director, and director at the University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic, Moffitt Cancer Center, and now the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute.

Dr. Sellers has served on NCI Subcommittee A and on the external advisory boards (EABs) of two dozen cancer centers, a majority of which have NCI designation. Of the non-designated centers, several are working toward designation, and one is in Germany. His experience serving on EABs was the foundation of a consulting practice that helped aspiring cancer centers assess institutional readiness to submit a competitive P30 application, write the grant, prepare for the site visit, and support leadership development.

Dr. Sellers received a bachelor of science degree in community nutrition from the University of California at Davis; PhD and MPH degrees from Tulane University; and a postdoctoral fellowship in statistical genetics at Louisiana State University with Dr. Robert C. Elston. He has applied that training to identify inherited and modifiable risk factors for ovarian, breast, and prostate cancers and mammographic breast density using the full spectrum of observational study designs. Critical to every study is multidisciplinary team science. Seminal work includes providing the strongest evidence that lung cancer has a genetic component; that prophylactic mastectomy confers 90 percent risk reduction for BRCA mutation carriers; and, through an international consortium, the identification of variants in non-coding regions of the genome that associate with risk of ovarian cancer. This research has been supported by over $100 million in peer-reviewed funding as principal or co-principal investigator, resulting in more than 400 publications and book chapters, and over 40,000 lifetime citations. Dr. Sellers is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

Dr. Sellers was previously elected to the AACI Board of Directors (2014-2017) and served on AACI’s Annual Meeting Program Committee in 2017-2018. Additional professional service includes the AACR Board of Directors, NCI Board of Scientific Counselors, and numerous editorial boards and grant reviews. He places great value on mentorship and sponsorship and is committed to the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.