BRIEF—Merck Research Labs appointment

Dr Theodora Ross has been appointed vice president of translational medicine for the discovery, pre-clinical and early development at Merck Research Laboratories, a division of Merck & Co.

Dr Ross will start her new role in December 2019 and will be based at Merck’s Rahway, New Jersey, site.

Dr Ross is currently the Jeanne Ann Plitt Professor in Breast Cancer Research; H Ben and Isabelle T Decherd Chair in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas, Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center where she serves as the director of the Cancer Genetics Program.

Prior to joining UT Southwestern, Dr Ross served as a clinician and researcher at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where for many years she cared for women with breast cancer and investigated the basic cellular mechanisms of cancer cells and how those cells resist targeted cancer drugs.

Dr Ross is also the author of “A Cancer Family,” a comprehensive guide for people facing a genetic predisposition for cancer.