Leadership

Elizabeth Prescott, PhD

Dr. Prescott, vice president and chief of staff for the Fred Hutch Director’s Office, facilitates information flow and decision-making through collaboration with both administrative and scientific partners throughout Fred Hutch. She also participates in the development of strategies and processes to advance key initiatives.

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Garnet Anderson, PhD

Public Health Sciences Division

Dr. Anderson is division director and senior vice president of the Public Health Sciences Division. Dr. Anderson is also the principal investigator of the Fred Hutch-based Women’s Health Initiative, a long-term nationwide research program that investigates the most frequent causes of death, disability and poor quality of life among postmenopausal women. Dr. Anderson holds the Fred Hutch 40th Anniversary Endowed Chair.

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Sue Biggins, PhD

Basic Sciences Division

Dr. Biggins is division director of the Basic Sciences Division. Dr. Biggins studies one of biology’s most fundamental processes: how cells sort chromosomes, the long molecules in which DNA is packaged. Errors in chromosome sorting can contribute to cancer and other diseases. Dr. Biggins has served on numerous national scientific committees, including the Next Generation of Science committee of the National Academy of Science, which aims to improve science for early stage investigators in the country. She is currently a member of the Coalition of Life Sciences, a national alliance that fosters policies to promote research in the U.S.

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Geoffrey Hill, MD, FRACP, FRCPA

Translational Science and Therapeutics Division

Dr. Hill is division director and senior vice president of the Translational Science and Therapeutics Division. Dr. Hill is a physician-scientist who specializes in blood stem cell transplantation. He is one of the top authorities on the transplant complication known as graft-vs.-host disease, or GVHD. In particular, Dr. Hill focuses on the immunological mechanisms initiating both acute and chronic forms of GVHD. Dr. Hill holds the Leonard and Norma Klorfine Endowed Chair for Clinical Research.

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Eric Holland, MD, PhD

Human Biology Division

Dr. Holland is division director and senior vice president of the Human Biology Division. Dr. Holland is an internationally renowned neurosurgeon and brain cancer researcher. He has spent his career working across disciplines to address the molecular basis of brain tumors and develop new treatment approaches. He also directs the Fred Hutch–based Seattle Translational Tumor Research, a multidisciplinary, multiorganizational effort to translate laboratory findings into precise, personalized treatment options for patients with solid tumors. Dr. Holland holds the Endowed Chair in Cancer Biology.

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Sara Hurvitz, MD

Clinical Research Division

Dr. Hurvitz is division director and senior vice president of the Clinical Research Division and also heads the UW Department of Medicine’s Division of Hematology and Oncology. Dr. Hurvitz is an international expert in breast oncology and a leader in clinical and laboratory-based oncology research, with extensive experience in leading clinical trials spanning all phases. Dr. Hurvitz holds the Smith Family Endowed Chair in Women’s Health.

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Julie McElrath, MD, PhD

Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division

Dr. McElrath is division director and senior vice president of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division. Dr. McElrath investigates the complex relationships between HIV and the immune system. Her research has been fundamental to our understanding of the virus that causes AIDS. She also serves as principal investigator and director of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network's Laboratory Program, which is based at Fred Hutch. Dr. McElrath holds the Joel D. Meyers Endowed Chair.

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Ramesh Rengan, MD, PhD

Radiation Oncology Division

Dr. Rengan is division director and senior vice president of the Radiation Oncology Division. Dr. Rengan studies photon- and proton-based radiation treatment for cancer. His main objective is to improve the therapeutic benefit and minimize the harms of these forms of radiation. He is interested in how radiation therapy can synergize with immune-harnessing cancer treatments called immunotherapies. To this end, he is learning how to use radiation to trigger an anti-cancer immune response to treat patients with advanced lung cancer, melanoma, lymphoma, kidney cancer and other malignancies. He is chair of Radiation Oncology at UW Medicine.

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Nina Salama, PhD

Education

Dr. Salama is senior vice president of Education. In addition to leading the Office of Education & Training, she studies Helicobacter pylori, a stomach bacterium that infects half the world’s population and is associated with ulcers and gastric cancer — the third leading cancer killer worldwide. Dr. Salama is also the director of the Fred Hutch/University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Cancer Consortium Cancer Research and Training Education Coordination program. Dr. Salama holds the Dr. Penny E. Petersen Memorial Chair for Lymphoma Research.

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Office of Education & Training (OET)

Ric Anderson, Chair

Ric Anderson is the cofounder and chief operating officer of Washington Holdings, a real estate company that acquires, develops, manages and invests in assets throughout the western U.S. The company is focused on northwest apartment buildings, west coast hospitality assets, and Silicon Valley research and development business parks. Anderson is a former partner at Lowe Enterprises, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington and his master’s degree in business administration from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has been a long-time board member of Fred Hutch and currently holds board positions at the UW Medicine advisory board, Pacific Real Estate Institute and University Preparatory Academy.

Eduardo Peñalver, Vice Chair

Eduardo Peñalver is Seattle University’s 22nd president. Previously, Peñalver served as the dean of Cornell Law School from 2014 to 2021. He is a Rhodes scholar and a professor of law who clerked for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. Peñalver received his bachelor’s from Cornell’s College of Arts & Sciences in 1994 and his law degree from Yale Law School in 1999. As a Rhodes scholar, he received his Master of Arts in philosophy and theology at Oriel College, Oxford. Peñalver has also held faculty appointments at Fordham Law School and the University of Chicago, where he was the John P. Wilson Professor of Law. He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard and Yale law schools. 

Julie Nordstrom, Secretary

Julie Nordstrom is a community volunteer, a member of the UW Medicine advisory board, and a member of the board of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. She is former chair of the UW Medicine board and former chair of the University of Washington Medical Center board, and she was the founding co-chair of the UW Department of Global Health leadership council. Nordstrom is also a trustee for Save the Children US. Nordstrom has a bachelor’s degree from UW and a law degree from Seattle University. 

Pete Shimer, Treasurer

Pete Shimer is the executive committee chair of the Cancer AI Alliance (CAIA), a startup venture among Fred Hutch, other cancer centers and leading technology companies that is developing a platform for improved cancer outcomes, using federated machine learning. Shimer has more than 40 years of executive management experience as well as ownership of enterprise-wide transformation, corporate development, and long-term strategic planning efforts at Deloitte. At Deloitte, he served as the interim Deloitte U.S. chief executive officer, chief operating officer twice, chief financial officer, chair of the U.S. Operating Committee, member and chair of the U.S. Executive Committee, and Seattle managing partner. He led client service relationships for several Fortune 500 companies in the consumer and service industries. Shimer received a BA in Accounting from the University of Washington. He is a member of the Board of Alaska Air Group, a board member for the University of Washington Foster School of Business, and a past chair of the board of directors for the University of Washington Foundation.

Sean Boyle

Sean Boyle is chief operating officer of Omniva, an AI startup. Previously, Boyle served as chief operating officer of Wildlife Studios, a global mobile gaming company, vice president of finance at Amazon, chief financial officer of Amazon Web Services, and chief financial officer of Apptio, a software company based in Bellevue, Washington, that develops technology business-management applications. He also has held various financial leadership positions at Ford Motor Company. Boyle earned a bachelor’s in commerce and finance and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Windsor. He serves as treasurer on the board of Rainier Prep, a charter school dedicated to transforming educational outcomes for low-income students of color and immigrant students. He is also a member of the board of directors for Splunk, serving as the audit chair.

Nancy Davidson, MD

Dr. Nancy Davidson is executive vice president and chief academic officer at Fred Hutch, overseeing all faculty affairs and education. She holds the Raisbeck Endowed Chair for Collaborative Research. Davidson, a breast cancer oncologist, has built a worldwide reputation for her expertise and leadership in this field, for her research teasing out the role of hormones in breast cancer growth, and for her impact on the development of new standards of care. She is past president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Association of Cancer Research. She has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Timothy H. Dellit, MD

Dr. Timothy Dellit is the CEO of UW Medicine. He also holds the positions of executive vice president for Medical Affairs and Paul G. Ramsey Endowed Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Washington (UWSOM). Dellit previously served as chief medical officer of UW Medicine; as executive vice dean for clinical affairs at UWSOM; as vice president for medical affairs at UW; and as president of UW Physicians (UWP). His leadership positions at Harborview Medical Center (HMC) have included medical director of the General Infectious Diseases Clinic, Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and Infection Control as well as Associate Medical Director for HMC. Dellit was the lead author on the Infectious Disease Society and Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America’s guidelines for developing an institutional program to enhance antimicrobial stewardship and served on the University HealthSystem Consortium Advisory Panels for the prevention of healthcare-associated infections. He was named the Seattle Business Magazine’s 2018 Medical Group Executive of the Year for his efforts as president of UWP.

Stephen Graham

Stephen Graham practiced corporate and securities law for several decades as a partner at the major law firms of Perkins Coie LLP, Orrick LLP and Fenwick & West LLP until his retirement from the practice in 2022. Currently, he is chair of the board of directors of Washington Federal Bank, the largest bank headquartered in Washington state with more than $30 billion in assets. He also serves on the national board of Friends of the Children, where he served as chair until the end of 2025. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The Who We Are Project, an organization dedicated to learning about and maintaining awareness of anti-Black racism. In 2019, Graham was appointed to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee on Small Business Capital Formation and co-chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies from 2011 to 2017. He received his JD from Yale Law School.

Joanne Harrell

Joanne Harrell is the retired senior director of USA artificial intelligence, sustainability and market development strategy at Microsoft Corporation, where she worked from 2001 to 2021. Harrell’s extensive work history encompasses executive roles within the high-tech, telecommunications and nonprofit sectors. She is a former Conference Board/Brookings Institution Congressional Fellow and has completed marketing management programs at Columbia University and Stanford University. She has also completed the Stanford Advanced Management Program and a nonprofit management program at Harvard Business School. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Washington. A regent for the UW from 2009 to 2022, Harrell served as board chair from 2012 to 2013, and as founding chair of the Board of Regents Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee. Harrell is currently a senior fellow at the J.D. Murdock Charitable Trust and an adjunct professor for the University of Washington Foster Business School.

Jim Lico

Jim Lico retired in June of 2025 from his role as founding president and CEO of Fortive, an industrial technology conglomerate based in Everett, Washington. Lico held his role at Fortive and membership on Fortive's board of directors since the company's founding in 2016. He previously served as the executive vice president and in other leadership positions at life sciences conglomerate Danaher for 20 years. Prior to Danaher, Lico held leadership positions at AlliedSignal and General Motors. He is also a member of the board of directors of Dupont. Jim received a Master’s in Management degree from Northwestern Kellogg School of Management and a Bachelor of Science degree in operations management from the University of Michigan Dearborn.

Thomas "Tom" Lynch, MD

Dr. Thomas J. Lynch Jr. is a world-renowned scientist, highly respected oncologist and successful leader of National Cancer Institute-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. As president and director of Fred Hutch and holder of the Raisbeck Endowed Chair, Lynch sets the strategic direction of the center, oversees centerwide initiatives and represents the Hutch’s interests to major partners and governmental bodies. He directs the Fred Hutch/University of Washington/Seattle Children's Cancer Consortium and is principal investigator of its Cancer Center Support Grant. Before becoming Fred Hutch’s sixth president in February 2020, Lynch was most recently chief scientific officer of Bristol Myers Squibb. Previously, he held leadership roles as CEO of Massachusetts General Physicians Organization, director of Yale Cancer Center, physician-in-chief at Yale’s Smilow Cancer Hospital, chief of hematology-oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Leigh Morgan

Leigh Morgan is CEO of Imaginal Leadership Strategies and former chief strategy and operating officer for Nia Tero, a leading global social enterprise based in Seattle. Her previous leadership roles include serving as chief operating officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; associate chancellor at the University of California, San Francisco; vice president and global head of human resources (product development) at Genentech; and principal organization development consultant at GlaxoSmithKline. She is a member of the UW Medicine advisory board, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a director at Kymera Therapeutics (KYMR). Morgan received a master's degree in organization development from American University, a bachelor’s degree in religion from Duke University and an honorary doctorate from the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh.

Cheryl M. Scott

Cheryl M. Scott provides executive and board level counsel on matters of strategy, leadership and governance as the major principal for McClintock Scott. From 1997-2004, she served as the president and CEO of the Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative. Scott’s 8-year tenure as CEO capped a distinguished 25-year career with the organization. Her time at Group Health was followed by 10 years with the Gates Foundation, first as their chief operating officer then followed by several years as their senior advisor in Global Health.

Scott received her bachelor’s degree in communications and master’s degree in health management from the University of Washington. She currently serves on a variety of public and not-for-profit boards. In 2005, the University of Washington and Group Health created the Cheryl M. Scott/Group Health Cooperative Professorship in Health Care Leadership in the School of Public Health. Scott is a frequent speaker at health care financing and delivery forums. She currently is a clinical professor in the University of Washington Department of Health Services.

Michelle Seitz

Michelle Seitz, is the founder and CEO of MeydenVest Partners, LLC., a private investment and strategic advisory firm. Prior to founding MeydenVest Partners, she served as chair and CEO of Russell Investments. Before joining Russell, Seitz was CEO of William Blair Investment Management and served on William Blair’s corporate board of directors. With over three decades as both a CEO and investor, Seitz brings deep experience in the financial sector. At the companies she has led, a hallmark of her approach was leveraging her platform and voice to improve peoples’ financial security.

Seitz currently serves on the boards of MSCI Inc., Sana Biotechnology, Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and University of Chicago’s Leadership & Society Initiative.

Seitz received her bachelor’s degree from Indiana University. She has been recognized on Barron’s list of "The Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance" and American Banker’s list of the "Most Powerful Women in Finance."

Brad Simmons

Brad Simmons serves as the president of UW Medicine Hospitals & Clinics and the vice president for Medical Affairs at the University of Washington. Prior to joining UW Medicine, he worked at UC Davis, initially as the chief operating officer, and then more recently as the chief administrator of UC Davis Medical Center (equivalent to CEO) and chief operating officer for the Hospital Division. Previous leadership roles Simmons has held include chief operating officer at Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City and the senior vice president of Medicine, Surgical & Emergency/Trauma Services at Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas. Simmons received his Master of Healthcare Administration from Washington University School of Medicine and his Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University.

Kathy Surace-Smith

Kathy Surace-Smith has over 35 years of experience advising or working in high-growth private and public companies in both the United States and Europe, including over 20 years of experience in the life sciences industry. From 2013 to 2024, she served as senior vice president and general counsel of NanoString Technologies in Seattle, a provider of spatial biology solutions to the scientific research community, where she managed the company’s legal, human resources and regulatory functions. Previously, she served as vice president and general counsel of SonoSite Inc., an ultrasound technology company based in Bothell, Washington.

Surace-Smith served as board chair of Fred Hutch from July 2020 to June 2023. She is also  a trustee of Columbia University in New York City and an advisory board member of the Behavioral Health Catalyst, which seeks to facilitate effective philanthropic and public investment and policies in Washington State’s behavioral health system. She serves on the advisory boards of the Hastings Center for Bioethics and the Clooney Foundation for Justice. Surace-Smith was honored by the Puget Sound Business Journal as a 2023 Director of the Year and a 2018 Woman of Influence. She received her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and her law degree from Columbia Law School.

Jeff Yurcisin

Jeff Yurcisin is an ecommerce executive who has led multiple billion-dollar companies and served as a senior executive for 14 years at Amazon. Yurcisin is currently the CEO of Grove Collaborative Holdings Inc., a leading sustainable consumer products company. Previously, Yurcisin served as president and CEO of Zulily, an ecommerce company that strives to deliver the best shopping experience for moms nationwide. He also served as CEO of Shopbop, a leading fashion boutique that offered free 3-day shipping worldwide and built a global fashion destination. While at Amazon, he led the Apparel business when it became the largest seller of clothes in the U.S., and then went on to lead Amazon’s Private Brands business as it launched dozens of brands to better serve customers. Earlier in his career, he worked as an early employee of Broadband Office, a Kleiner Perkins-backed SaaS startup. Yurcisin earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Princeton University and graduated with honors from Harvard Business School.