Joseph Uberti, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Internal Medicine and chief of the Division of Hematology, will become the interim leader of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and chair of the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Department of Oncology beginning Sept. 30.
Dr. Uberti will replace Gerold Bepler, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and chair of the Department of Oncology, who has announced his plan to retire from KCI on Sept. 30, 2022.
The appointment was announced July 15 by WSU President M. Roy Wilson and Phil Incarnati, president and chief executive officer of McLaren Health Care.
Co-director of the Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplant Program since 2004, Dr. Uberti is a respected leader in oncology, with a long history at the School of Medicine and Karmanos. He joined Wayne State’s faculty as an assistant professor of internal medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, in 1990. He has served as division head of BMT, Leukemia and Lymphoma, in the Department of Oncology, since 2010.
Dr. Uberti the Lambert/Webber Endowed Chair and division head of Bone Marrow Transplant, Leukemia and Lymphoma for Wayne State University and the KCI, will serve on an interim basis as a search committee with representatives from McLaren Health Care, Wayne State and KCI identify a permanent leader. M. Safwan Badr, M.D., M.B.A., chair of the Wayne State University School of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine and chief clinical officer of Wayne Health, has agreed to chair the search committee.
Certified by the American Board of Medical Oncology and a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, Dr. Uberti is a member of the American Society of Bone Marrow Transplantation, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry/Autologous Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry, the American Society of Hematology, the Central Society for Clinical Research and serves on the board of directors of the Michigan Society of Hematology & Oncology.
The 1983 graduate of the Wayne State University School of Medicine received his bachelor’s degree and his doctoral degree from WSU in 1973 and 1979, respectively. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at WSU, was named chief medical resident at Detroit Receiving Hospital and completed a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology with the WSU/Harper Grace Hospitals.
Dr. Uberti’s research has been extensively funded and published, and he has trained and mentored generations of medical students and residents. He received the Teacher of the Year Award from the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology in 2006, and the Karmanos Cancer Center Director’s Research Award in 2011.
Dr. Bepler was named president and CEO in February 2010. He led the submission of three Wayne State University National Cancer Institute Core Grant renewals since 2010, successfully sealing Karmanos’ comprehensive cancer center designation. Since joining the institute, Dr. Bepler increased Karmanos’ research grant funding and contracts from $65 million to $80 million annually, and his leadership helped expand access to advanced cancer care in Detroit and communities throughout Michigan and Ohio.