Christopher Amos, PhD, will join The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center on October 1, Yolanda Sanchez, PhD, announced. Sanchez leads the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center as Director and CEO.
Amos will serve as Associate Director for Population Sciences and Cancer Control at the UNM Cancer Center and will also serve as Director of the UNM Health Sciences Center (HSC) Data Science Initiative.
In his role as Associate Director for Cancer Control and Population Sciences, Dr Amos will assist in building the UNM Cancer Center’s research programs in cancer population sciences, cancer control, community engagement, cancer-relevant behavioral intervention, and cancer health disparities.
In his role as HSC Data Science Initiative Director, Amos will develop a cadre of data scientists, review current HSC policies, procedures and governance; develop a master’s level and other training plans; and develop a full vision, strategic plan, and aligned budget plan.
Amos joins UNM from Baylor College of Medicine, where he is a Professor and Chief of the Section of Epidemiology and Population Sciences. He also serves as Director of the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and as Associate Director of Population and Quantitative Sciences at the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Amos holds a doctorate in Biometry from LSU Medical Center in New Orleans. His postdoctoral training included a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, where he focused on family studies and environmental epidemiology.
Amos’ research focuses on the genetic epidemiology of cancer. His work has identified genetic factors that influence lung cancer risk and nicotine addiction, and he has published extensively on the genetic underpinnings of cancer. His work has contributed to personalized medical approaches to treating people with lung cancer.
UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center
The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center is the Official Cancer Center of New Mexico and the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center in a 500-mile radius.
Its more than 136 board-certified oncology specialty physicians include cancer surgeons in every specialty (abdominal, thoracic, bone and soft tissue, neurosurgery, genitourinary, gynecology, and head and neck cancers), adult and pediatric hematologists/medical oncologists, gynecologic oncologists, and radiation oncologists. They, along with more than 600 other cancer healthcare professionals (nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists, navigators, psychologists and social workers), provide treatment to 65% of New Mexico’s cancer patients from all across the state and partner with community health systems statewide to provide cancer care closer to home. They treated almost 15,000 patients in more than 100,000 ambulatory clinic visits in addition to in-patient hospitalizations at UNM Hospital.
A total of nearly 1,855 patients participated in cancer clinical trials testing new cancer treatments that include tests of novel cancer prevention strategies and cancer genome sequencing.
The more than 123 cancer research scientists affiliated with the UNMCCC were awarded $38.2 million in federal and private grants and contracts for cancer research projects. Since 2015, they have published nearly 1000 manuscripts, and promoting economic development, they filed 136 new patents and launched 10 new biotechnology start-up companies.
Finally, the physicians, scientists and staff have provided education and training experiences to more than 500 high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral fellowship students in cancer research and cancer health care delivery.