Faculty Position: Early Cancer Detection and Interception Physician and Scientist Investigators

Up to two positions may be filled, with appointments based at either Mayo Clinic Arizona or Mayo Clinic Rochester.

Position Description
The Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center (MCCCC) in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona, and in Rochester, Minnesota, invite applications for open-rank faculty positions in Early Cancer Detection and Interception with strong leadership potential and a commitment to advancing cancer research into clinical impact. Mayo Clinic and MCCCC have built a world-class research hub to transform cancer patient care through actionable target discovery and next-generation discovery and therapeutic platforms. These foundational platforms include Mayo Clinic Platform (www.mayoclinicplatform.org) which holds the fully digitized longitudinal patient records from 15M Mayo Clinic patients and 54M patients from across the nation and the globe with collaborating healthcare institutions, which facilitate research through development of longitudinal patient cohorts prior to and following disease diagnosis. Mayo Clinic has also developed very strong AI-driven discovery, translational, and clinical programs with exceptional “on premises” and cloud-based computational resources. These AI programs focus on multimodal virtual cell and organ predictive modeling, digital twins, and AI-based early cancer detection and interception, drug discovery, and guided intervention. MCCCC also created one of the nation’s first National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Cancer Center Research Programs focused on early cancer detection and interception: Cancer Risk Assessment, Early Detection, and Interception (REDI).

These positions will focus on leading transformative spanning from discovery to translational to clinical science efforts in cancer early detection, prevention, and data-driven translational and clinical. This role will integrate discovery and translational science, clinical care, genomics, advanced analytics, and community engagement to redefine how cancer is detected early, monitored, and prevented. Particular focus will be in the field of cancer interception – delaying or preventing cancer development or progression of nascent disease—particularly in pre-cancer and high-risk populations.

Strategic Role and Leadership Expectations

The Early-Detection and Interception Physician and Scientist Investigators will:

• Design and lead prospective cohorts of healthy individuals and high-risk populations to study cancer initiation, progression, and interception.
• Develop strategies to identify individuals at risk (pre-cancer) and guide them to appropriate screening, prevention, and early intervention pathways. 
• Integrate clinical, genomic, and longitudinal health data to monitor disease evolution and enable early therapeutic intervention and clinical trials. 
• Partner with institutional programs (e.g., Mayo Clinic Platform, the Mayo Clinic AI Program, the Center for Individualized Medicine, the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Clinical Genetics) to implement comprehensive, clinical-grade genomic sequencing initiatives or other AI-based multimodal predictive algorithms for early cancer detection and guiding interception in community-based screening and clinical settings.
• Expand cancer risk evaluation to include AI-driven, multi-parametric models incorporating multiple variables (eg. longitudinal clinical data, radiomics, digital pathology, genetics/genomics, exposome, epidemiology and behavioral data, etc.).
• Expand access to advanced genomic diagnostics across diverse care settings and utilized genomic insights to inform risk assessment, early detection, and personalized treatment strategies. 
• Collaborate with discovery science investigators to develop, test and validate novel methods for early cancer detection and diagnosis.
• Lead and develop a translational science program focused on early detection, cancer interception (including immunoprevention).
• Utilize data warehouses unifying clinical, genomic, imaging, and outcomes data.  Lead the development of data surveillance and visualization tools to monitor cancer trends across patient populations and communities. 
• Partner with clinical and community organizations to build collaborative, community-based clinical trial networks, focused on prevention and early detection/screening trials.
• Expand access to innovative trials and precision medicine approaches in diverse and underserved populations. Extend institutional impact nationally and globally through scalable models of care and research.

The successful candidates will build and lead large-scale, longitudinal patient cohorts; drive discovery science and/or develop clinical-grade genomic programs; and leverage integrated data platforms, artificial intelligence, and digital health tools to improve patient outcomes and expand access to cutting-edge care
 

Research Environment
Mayo Clinic offers a highly collaborative and integrated academic medical center environment with expanding strengths in cell therapy, cancer immunotherapy, regenerative medicine, and translational science. Faculty benefit from:
 

• Established CAR-T and immune cell therapy programs with active clinical translation
• State-of-the-art genome engineering and cell manufacturing infrastructure
• Access to institutional core facilities including genomics, single-cell sequencing, proteomics, bioinformatics, advanced imaging, computational resources and AI tools.
• Focused drive to launch first-in-human trails to bring new treatments to patients 
• Dedicated institutional support for regulatory strategy, clinical trial development, and commercialization pathways
• Developing biotechnology corridor attracting partner companies for the accelerating translation of discoveries. 
• Cross-campus enterprise collaboration opportunities with the three Mayo Clinic Destination Medical Center Sites (Rochester, Minnesota; Jacksonville, Florida; and Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ).
   

The selected candidates may house their programs on either the Mayo Clinic Arizona or Minnesota campuses but will work across the Mayo Clinic enterprise.  They will help shape a coordinated, forward-looking therapy strategy that advances precision medicine for cancer risk determination and clinical translation of therapeutics directed at preventing cancer development or progression of nascent disease.

Why Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center (MCCCC)? 

With 440 members and >1500 aligned cancer physicians working in six Cancer Research Programs (Cancer Prevention, Survivorship & Control; Cancer Risk Assessment, Early Detection & Interception; Cancer Genomics, Signaling, & Metastasis; Cancer Immunology & Immunotherapeutics; Novel Therapeutics & Therapeutic Modalities; Advanced Clinical Trials and Translational Sciences) and 15 Disease Groups focused on clinical trials, MCCCC is a global leader and represents the pinnacle of cancer care, research and education and training. Every year, across its three enterprise sites (Rochester, Minnesota; Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona; and Jacksonville, Florida), MCCCC physicians provide expert cancer diagnosis and treatment to more than 150,000 unique patients from across the nation and the globe. 
 

The MCCCC Misson: To inspire hope and promote health and healing through integrated research, clinical practice, and education, centered around our primary value: the needs of the patient come first.
 

The MCCCC Vision: To be a global cancer authority: transforming cancer research and practice to assure that our discoveries, knowledge, and expertise are accessible to all, within and beyond our walls, at anyplace and anytime.
 

MCCCC Goals:
 

1. To cure cancers through translation of innovative transdisciplinary science to new means of prevention, early detection, interception, intervention, and unparalleled care delivery. 
2. To transform cancer research and practice using category of one data platforms, digital technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and intelligent automation, creating new models for community and patient engagement, and the conduct of research, clinical trials and patient-centered care delivery in clinical, home, and community settings. 
3. To use Mayo Clinic Platform to engage patients and communities in our catchment areas and across the nation and the world in cancer research and distributed and decentralized clinical trials.
4. To educate, train, and mentor the next generation of cancer physicians, scientists, and leaders.
    

Over the past year, MCCCC has continued to achieve exceptional performance metrics, with high levels of cancer research funding (reporting $61.2M in annual peer-reviewed funding ($41.1M from NCI) and $98.7M in industry and non-peer reviewed funding). The Center currently has over 80 multi-investigator programmatic grants including 6 NCI Specialized Programs of Research Emphasis (SPORES): Myeloma, Ovarian Cancer, Breast Cancer, Liver/Hepatobiliary Cancers, Prostate Cancer, and Sarcoma. In 2025, clinical trial accrual has remained robust, reporting the Center’s highest accrual to therapeutic interventional trials: 2,624 (12% of newly registered cases), with 6,588 interventional accruals (30% of newly registered patients) and 10,367 non-interventional accruals. In 2025, MCCCC members published an exceptional number (1776) of peer-reviewed academic works, 24% of which were published in high impact journals.

Why Choose Mayo Clinic?

Mayo Clinic is a premier, integrated academic medical center consistently ranked among the top hospitals in the nation. All campuses are experiencing strategic growth in cancer immunotherapy, drug discovery & development, regenerative medicine, and translational discovery science.

We offer:

• Competitive startup and sustained institutional support
• Investment in team science and program-building initiatives
• Access to a $1B+ annual research enterprise
• Infrastructure for IND-enabling studies and early-phase clinical trials
• Exceptional benefits, including retirement and pension programs
• A culture that values innovation, inclusion, and transdisciplinary collaboration

Qualified candidates must hold a doctoral degree (M.D., M.D./Ph.D., Ph.D., Sc.D., or equivalent) in genetics, molecular biology, immunology, biomedical engineering, computational modeling or a related discipline.
 

• If clinically trained, be board-certified or board-eligible in Medical Oncology, Hematology/Oncology, or a relevant specialty (including surgical or other medical specialties)

Candidates should demonstrate:

• Demonstrated leadership in clinical and translational research 
• Experience with early detection, cancer genomics, population health, or digital health innovation 
• Have a strong track record of peer-reviewed funding (e.g., NIH, industry, foundations) and a strong track record of high-quality peer-reviewed publications.

Appointment level (Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor) will be commensurate with experience and years in rank, scholarly achievement, leadership experience, and funding record.