Therapeutics Discovery Team

Tim Heffernan, Ph.D.
Vice President and Head of Therapeutics Discovery

Heffernan leads multidisciplinary teams focused on oncology drug discovery, translational research and early-phase clinical development, driving programs that accelerate the pre-clinical evaluation of novel drugs to inform innovative clinical trials. During his time at UT MD Anderson, Heffernan has advanced numerous internal or partnered therapeutics into clinical trials, reflecting the impact of his leadership in translational medicine. Heffernan earned his Ph.D. in cell and molecular pathology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed his postdoctoral training at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. Prior to joining UT MD Anderson, Heffernan led target identification efforts at the Belfer Institute at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and was a senior vice president at C4 Therapeutics Inc., where he managed the drug discovery and translational biology efforts to advance a portfolio of internal and partnered programs.

Timothy Yap, M.B.B.S., Ph.D.
Vice President and Head of Clinical Development
Professor, Investigational Cancer Therapeutics

As vice president and head of clinical development in the division, Yap guides an integrated drug discovery and development engine that advances drugs from target identification through first-in-human trials and beyond. Yap's leadership is shaped by his uniquely deep and comprehensive background in therapeutics discovery, including decades of pioneering work in DNA damage response and genome instability therapeutics, next-generation molecularly targeted agents and novel immunotherapies, alongside extensive experience designing and leading innovative early-phase clinical trials, and their acceleration using novel predictive and pharmacodynamic biomarkers. He has served as principal investigator for multiple national and international biomarker-driven trials and major precision medicine initiatives. With this deep expertise, he steers the division and its teams to accelerate programs strategically and efficiently, ensuring that mechanistic insights rapidly inform clinical development and effectively translate novel discoveries into impactful cancer treatments for our patients.

Jason Cross, Ph.D.
Director, Structural and Computational Drug Design 

Mary Geck Do, Ph.D.
Director, Pharmacology

Virginia Giuliani, Ph.D.
Director, Target Biology 

Charles Manning, Ph.D.
Director, Radiopharmaceutical Research
Professor of Nuclear Medicine
Director of the Cyclotron Radiochemistry Facility

Joe Marszalek, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Translational Research 

Piergiorgio (PG) Pettazzoni, Ph.D.
Director, Drug Discovery Biology 

Chunhua (Scott) Shi, Ph.D.
Director, Biologics Discovery

Michael Soth, Ph.D.
Director, Small Molecule Discovery  

Chris Vellano, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Research Strategy and Portfolio Management