The CPRIT Oversight Committee unanimously voted to hire Kristen Doyle as CPRIT’s CEO effective July 1, 2024. She joined the agency in 2009, serving as CPRIT’s deputy executive officer and general counsel. Ms. Doyle has played a pivotal role in establishing the policies and legal and regulatory foundations that ensure CPRIT maintains the highest standards in carrying out our mission to accelerate cancer cures, treatments, and prevention activities throughout Texas.

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The CPRIT Oversight Committee unanimously voted to hire Kristen Doyle as CPRIT’s CEO effective July 1, 2024. She joined the agency in 2009, serving as CPRIT’s deputy executive officer and general counsel. Ms. Doyle has played a pivotal role in establishing the policies and legal and regulatory foundations that ensure CPRIT maintains the highest standards in carrying out our mission to accelerate cancer cures, treatments, and prevention activities throughout Texas. 

Prior to joining CPRIT, Ms. Doyle was a partner at an Austin-based law firm practicing electric utility and natural gas law and served as Assistant Public Counsel for the Office of Public Utility Counsel. She received a B.S. in Public Policy from Indiana University and her J.D. and M.S. in Technology Commercialization from The University of Texas at Austin. Ms. Doyle, a cancer survivor, is the president of the board of directors for Wonders & Worries, a Texas-based non-profit, and previously served as vice chair of the board of directors for the Central Texas Chapter for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

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Ms. McConnell has oversight of CPRIT’s daily operations, including financial administration, grant administration, information technology services, procurement, human resources, facilities, and CPRIT conference planning. She has been with CPRIT since 2009.

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Heidi joined CPRIT in June 2009 as the chief operating officer. In this role, she also served as the agency’s chief financial officer.

Heidi has more than 30 years’ experience working for the state. Prior to joining CPRIT, she served as a senior budget advisor, special assistant, and governor’s advisor on public health in the Office of Governor Rick Perry. She has also worked at the Legislative Budget Board and the IC² Institute at The University of Texas at Austin.

A native Austinite, Heidi received a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University and a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.

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Dr. Le Beau leads CPRIT’s academic research program in supporting innovative cancer research and recruiting world-class cancer researchers to Texas institutions. Her distinguished research career has focused on basic and translational research. She is recognized for her work identifying recurring chromosomal abnormalities and defining the clinical and genetic subsets of leukemia, characterizing the genetic pathways that lead to hematological malignancies, and the application of fluorescence in situ hybridization for clinical diagnostics and gene mapping.

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Dr. Le Beau leads CPRIT’s academic research program in supporting innovative cancer research and recruiting world-class cancer researchers to Texas institutions. Her distinguished research career has focused on basic and translational research. She is recognized for her work identifying recurring chromosomal abnormalities and defining the clinical and genetic subsets of leukemia, characterizing the genetic pathways that lead to hematological malignancies, and the application of fluorescence in situ hybridization for clinical diagnostics and gene mapping.

Dr. Le Beau has also studied therapy-related neoplasms (t-MN), an aggressive myeloid leukemia developing after therapy for a primary malignancy. Dr. Le Beau and her colleagues are credited with recognizing several distinct cytogenetic and clinical subtypes of t-MN that are closely associated with the nature of the preceding treatment and are now recognized by the World Health Organization classification.

Prior to joining CPRIT in October 2021, Dr. Le Beau was the Arthur and Marian Edelstein Professor Emerita of Medicine and Director Emerita of the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, which she led for 17 years. She is the recipient of the 2020 Henry M. Stratton Medal from the American Society of Hematology. The medal, one of the cancer field’s top honors, recognizes investigators who have made well-recognized contributions to hematology research. Dr. Le Beau also received the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research’s Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research. This prestigious award recognizes a champion of cancer research whose leadership and achievements have had a major impact on the field.

A graduate of Purdue University, Dr. Le Beau earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in pathology from the University of Illinois at the Medical Center.

Dr. Le Beau is CPRIT’s fourth chief scientific officer. She replaced Dr. James K.V. Willson, M.D., who retired after serving CPRIT’s chief scientific officer since 2016. He was preceded Dr. Margaret Kripke (2012 – 2016) and Nobel Laureate Dr. Alfred Gilman (2009 – 2012).

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Ramona Magid heads up CPRIT’s prevention program in supporting evidence-based prevention services in all 254 counties of Texas. Her responsibilities include directing the prevention program and fostering collaboration among the cancer and disease prevention community to maximize CPRIT's impact.

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Ramona Magid heads up CPRIT’s prevention program in supporting evidence-based prevention services in all 254 counties of Texas. Her responsibilities include directing the prevention program and fostering collaboration among the cancer and disease prevention community to maximize CPRIT's impact. She has been with CPRIT since January 2010, first as the Senior Program Manager for Prevention and currently as Chief Prevention Officer.

Prior to joining CPRIT, Ramona served as Executive Director of the Austin Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization where she was responsible for the overall operations of the Affiliate and oversight of the Race for the Cure. Previously, she was employed by Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee as a health services research manager and as a Specialist in Blood Banking.

Ramona received a bachelor's degree in medical technology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and obtained a master's degree in business administration from Memphis State University.

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Dr. Smith joined CPRIT as its inaugural Chief Due Diligence and Patent Officer in September 2021. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the life science industry across a broad range of business and legal sectors, including cofounding biotech companies and working as patent counsel for major pharmaceutical companies.

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Dr. Smith joined CPRIT as its inaugural Chief Due Diligence and Patent Officer in September 2021. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the life science industry across a broad range of business and legal sectors, including cofounding biotech companies and working as patent counsel for major pharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining CPRIT, he advised life science companies at all stages of development. Dr. Smith also served as outside counsel to CPRIT for the past decade, performing due diligence reviews on the IP estate of companies considered for CPRIT product development grants.

Dr. Smith received his J.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Houston. He also holds an MBA and a master’s degree in Biochemistry.

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Mr. Burgess oversees compliance strategy and planning for CPRIT’s grant review, award, and monitoring processes.  As the Chief Compliance Officer, he is also responsible for assessing and ensuring compliance by the Institute’s committee members and employees with applicable laws, rules, and policies, including matters of ethics and standards of conduct, financial reporting, internal accounting controls, and auditing.

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Mr. Burgess oversees compliance strategy and planning for CPRIT’s grant review, award, and monitoring processes.  As the Chief Compliance Officer, he is also responsible for assessing and ensuring compliance by the Institute’s committee members and employees with applicable laws, rules, and policies, including matters of ethics and standards of conduct, financial reporting, internal accounting controls, and auditing.

Mr. Burgess has spent the majority of his career working in local government in California.  Most recently, he was the Administrator of Compliance, Quality, and Outcomes for the Solano County (Calif.) Health and Social Services Department, overseeing Division operations with an emphasis in contracting, utilization management, and compliance.  Mr. Burgess has a particular interest in quality improvement and system development.

Mr. Burgess joined CPRIT in 2015.

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Prior to CPRIT, John Ellis served in the Office of the Attorney General, successively as Chief of the General Counsel Division, Special Counsel to the First Assistant Attorney General, and Associate Deputy Attorney General for Policy and Communications. He most recently served as the Chief Compliance and Risk Officer for the Texas Department of Information Resources, where he oversaw programs to manage risk and operationalize compliance with legal and ethical standards. Before joining state government, he served as legal counsel in the United States Senate. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of North Texas and a J.D. from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University.