We are happy to report the appointment of Thomas Flaig, MD, as interim vice chancellor of research, effective immediately.

 

A medical oncologist, Dr. Flaig has been a part of the University of Colorado since 2003, when he arrived as an oncology fellow. He currently serves as the associate dean for clinical research at the CU School of Medicine and chief clinical research officer of UCHealth, positions he has held since 2016. The first to hold these roles, he has led numerous efforts to create the infrastructure and streamline the processes to provide an efficient and attractive environment for conducting research on our campuses. He will continue in these roles at this time.

 

Over the last several years, Dr. Flaig has worked closely to coordinate research activities between the university and our campus clinical partners. He has provided leadership for the expansion of systemwide clinical trial activity at UCHealth and the ongoing implementation of OnCore campuswide. OnCore has greatly improved and modernized our management approach to the more than 1,000 clinical research projects on our campuses. This has led to improved web-based resources and a searchable database that researchers, clinicians and patients can use to find clinical trials going on at CU and UCHealth. Dr. Flaig has a broad understanding of clinical and translational research infrastructure on campus and has served on the executive committees of both the CU Cancer Center and the Colorado Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute. He has demonstrated a strong collaborative and inclusive approach in his current leadership posts and will bring this same spirit to the broader role of interim vice chancellor of research.

 

In addition to his clinical and administrative work, he is a prolific researcher​, leading both local and national multi-center clinical trials. He is a member of the National Cancer Institute’s Investigational Drug Steering Committee and the bladder cancer task force. He also serves as chair of the bladder cancer committee for the National Comprehensive Care Network, which publishes internationally recognized treatment guidelines, updated regularly with new research findings. He has active translational research collaborations with colleagues in the School of Medicine, School of Pharmacy and the CU Boulder campus.  

 

We are grateful to Dr. Flaig for his efforts to advance the practice of research at the university, and we enthusiastically welcome him to his new role. We’d also like to thank Dr. Robert Eckel for his leadership of the Office of Research Services since 2018, and for the more than 40 years he spent elevating this university. 

 

Sincerely,

 

Don Elliman

Chancellor, CU Anschutz Medical Campus

 

Dorothy Horrell

Chancellor, CU Denver