MCI Snippets: Howard named interim medical director for MCI clinical trials

J. Harrison Howard, M.D., a surgical oncologist at USA Health with extensive experience in clinical trials, has been named interim medical director of the Clinical Trials Office at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute.

Working closely with USA Health Clinical Trials office, he will help advance and expand oncology clinical trials at the MCI and at USA Health. Howard has been involved with more than 20 cooperative group and industry sponsored clinical trials at the international, national and multi-institutional levels as both primary and co-investigator. He has experience working on Institutional review boards as well as with clinical trial development, recruitment and management.

“We are excited to have his leadership and look forward to the continued success of clinical trials at the MCI,” said Christopher Davies, Ph.D., professor and associate dean for research at the USA College of Medicine.

Howard, who also is an associate professor of surgery at the USA College of Medicine, joined USA Health in 2018. A native of Birmingham, Ala., Howard earned his medical degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed a residency at UAB Hospital. He served as a surgical oncology fellow at the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, Calif. He is board certified in general surgery and has more than 60 peer-reviewed publications.