- Director, Moores Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California San Diego Health
- Committee Chair and Principal Investigator, PRECED Consortium
Dr. Diane Simeone is the Director at Moores Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of California San Diego Health as of April 2024. As director, she will spearhead the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-sponsored Cancer Center Support Grant as the principal investigator, while providing strategic intellectual guidance for the center’s research programs, administrative structure and multidisciplinary clinical service line. Under her leadership, MCC will have a significant impact on cancer treatment, detection, and prevention in the coming era.
Previously, the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Professor of Surgery and Pathology at New York University, Dr. Simeone was Director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center, concurrently as the Associate Director for Translational Research. She is an internationally renowned pancreatic surgeon and a researcher with a long-standing career focus on the treatment of pancreatic neoplasms. With a remarkable record of accomplishment of continuous NIH funding spanning 25 years, investigating the molecular mechanisms driving pancreatic metastasis and the development of novel, more effective therapeutic strategies to treat pancreatic cancer patients. She has a large clinical practice taking care of patients with pancreatic neoplasms and those at elevated risk of the disease. She first discovered pancreatic cancer stem cells, identified ATDC as a novel oncogene in human cancers, and defined for the first-time unique populations of cancer associated fibroblasts in pancreatic cancer. She has been an innovator in the development of therapeutic clinical trials for pancreatic cancer, and is the Principal Investigator of Precision Promise, a national adaptive phase 2/3 platform clinical trial consortium focused on next-generation clinical trials for patients with pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Simeone established and leads the Precede Consortium, an international collaboration of 50 centers dedicated to studying a large longitudinal cohort of individuals at heritable risk for pancreatic cancer. Her leadership extends beyond the laboratory, she is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research and has chaired the scientific and medical advisory board of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, served as president of the Society of University Surgeons, the American Pancreatic Association, and National Cancer Institute’s Pancreatic Cancer Task Force. Recognized for her contributions, Dr. Simeone is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, setting her position as a leader in cancer research and clinical practice.