IACS Leadership
Associate Director, Target Discovery
Timothy Heffernan, Ph.D.
Timothy Heffernan, Ph.D., joins MD Anderson from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is a seasoned cell and molecular biologist with expertise in functional genomics and signal transduction. During his time at Dana-Farber, Heffernan developed proprietary genetic screen platforms that have led to the identification of multiple oncology targets currently in drug development. He was the first to functionalize the cancer genome in high-throughput using engineered models that control for lineage, microenvironmental and genetic influences on gene function. His novel approach to target identity not only informed high priority “context-specific” targets for internal drug discovery, but also served as the basis for corporate alliances with Sanofi-Aventis and Merck Research Labs. In addition to his expertise in target discovery, Heffernan has extensive experience with multidisciplinary groups and has served as project team lead on multiple drug discovery programs.
Dr. Heffernan received his Ph.D. in cell and molecular pathology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and completed his post-doctoral training in the laboratory of Lynda Chin, M.D., at Dana-Farber.
Institute Leadership
- Giulio Draetta, M.D., Ph.D. - Director
- Lynda Chin, M.D. - Scientific Director
- Carlo Toniatti, M.D., Ph.D. - Head of Research
- Philip Jones, Ph.D. - Head of Drug Discovery
- Eric Devroe, Ph.D. - Executive Director, Strategic Alliances
- Jannik Andersen, Ph.D. - Senior Associate Director, Drug Discovery Biology
- Joseph Marszalek, Ph.D. - Senior Associate Director, Target Validation
- Timothy Heffernan, Ph.D. - Associate Director, Target Discovery
- James Horner, B.S. - Associate Director, Mouse Cancer Models
- Ming-Kuei Jang, Ph.D., - Associate Director, Neurobiology
- Alexei Protopopov, Ph.D. - Associate Director, Oncogenomics
- Jianhua (John) Zhang, Ph.D. - Associate Director, Bioinformatics