Dr. Robert Wiltrout - Director, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute

Dr. Robert Wiltrout is Director of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Center for Cancer Research (CCR), which is home to more than 250 scientists and clinicians conducting intramural research at NCI. The Center is organized into over 50 branches and laboratories, each grouping scientists with complementary interests. CCR’s investigators are basic, clinical, and translational scientists who work together to advance our knowledge of cancer and AIDS, and to develop new therapies against these diseases. CCR investigators collaborate with scientists at the more than 20 other institutes and centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as with extramural scientists in academia and industry. 

Each year, the Center stimulates and supports new technology development worldwide by sending in excess of several thousand shipments of research materials, including newly developed transgenic animal models, cell lines, plasmids, vectors, software/ databases and state-of-the-art research tools, to numerous industrial and academic research programs and centers. Dr. Wiltrout’s efforts have resulted in NCI’s continued technology transfer advances. He provided oversight of the Center’s intellectual property and technology transfer portfolio, and supported the infrastructure necessary to ensure continued new and creative collaborations. In FY 2008, the Center had over 275 active clinical trials, more than 120 active Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), and 120 new commercial licenses, which increased the Center’s net income to $36 million. 

Dr. Wiltrout has a strong belief in the importance of building strong scientific partnerships with public and private institutions, and he strives to accelerate the movement of scientific discoveries to the marketplace for the ultimate benefit of public health. To this end, Dr. Wiltrout has created several initiatives to maximize partnerships and stimulate communication across the Center’s 53 laboratories and clinical branches, as well as serve as a focal point for high impact collaborations. Through these partnerships, the Center has been able to develop cancer therapeutics and treatments to improve the quality of life for cancer and HIV/AIDS patients. 

Dr. Wiltrout serves as the principal investigator on four highly successful CRADAs with industry and is actively pursuing three additional CRADA opportunities. Under his leadership and oversight, more than 30 clinical and basic research protocols to develop valuable research and clinical agents have been approved. These industrial collaborations will contribute directly to the development of novel clinical compounds with the potential for positive impacts on public health.