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NEW CHAIRHOLDERS
NEW CHAIRHOLDERS
Leading Discovery
Eight Houston Methodist leaders were recently selected to fill endowed chairs, representing exceptional expertise and innovation in their respective fields. Through the generous foresight of the benefactors who established these endowed positions, chairholders draw from an anchored, long-term financial resource to support their leading-edge work.
Arica A. Brandford, PhD, JD
Dorothy and Mickey Ables Community Outreach and Engagement Distinguished New Century Chair
Dr. Brandford serves as assistant research professor of community engagement in medicine and associate director of community outreach and engagement at the Houston Methodist Dr. Mary and Ron Neal Cancer Center. Her work focuses on cancer prevention and control strategies addressing disparate health outcomes in underserved populations through community-based participatory research approaches. Through strategic partnerships, she leads initiatives investigating how nonmedical drivers of health influence cancer prevention, early detection and treatment outcomes. She has developed an innovative community health worker training program preparing navigators to assist with cancer prevention and control. This scalable approach extends reach to local and distant populations, creating deployment-ready, cancer-trained navigators for screening, education and prevention activities. Her work has yielded significant increases in screening participation among at-risk groups.
Keith Syson Chan, PhD
Neal Cancer Center Distinguished Chair 1
Dr. Chan is director of translational research in the Department of Urology and program lead for the Cancer Biology Program in the Houston Methodist Dr. Mary and Ron Neal Cancer Center. Recognized worldwide, Dr. Chan’s research in urologic oncology is concentrated on the potential to transform patient treatments by enhancing the response of conventional chemotherapy or immune checkpoint therapy. His research program has been continuously funded by the National Cancer Institute and U.S. Department of Defense since 2007. A strong collaborator, Dr. Chan works with urologic oncology faculty as well as clinical faculty who are active in urological research. He also advances Houston Methodist’s academic and translational research capacity by mentoring early-career scientists, some of whom have moved into roles as basic science and translational faculty members and leaders.
Jenny C. Chang, MBChirB, MD, MCHM
Ernest Cockrell, Jr. Presidential Distinguished Chair at Houston Methodist
In January 2025, Dr. Jenny Chang was appointed president and CEO of the Houston Methodist Academic Institute as well as executive vice president and chief academic officer of Houston Methodist. She also holds a professorship in medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Chang previously served as executive director of the Houston Methodist Dr. Mary and Ron Neal Cancer Center. A globally recognized leader in breast cancer research, she has pioneered work in tumor-initiating cells, notably identifying their intrinsic resistance to chemotherapy and elucidating mechanisms that limit their therapeutic targeting. As head of the Academic Institute, Dr. Chang is leading efforts to expand clinical and translational research and education across Houston Methodist, with a strategic focus on digital health, robotics and bioengineered therapeutics. She is also collaborating with fellow physician-scientists on the development of a cancer vaccine — an innovation that holds the potential to redefine cancer treatment and prevention.
Sunil Dacha, MD
Nina and Michael Zilkha Centennial Chair in Gastrointestinal Health in Honor of Dr. Eamonn Quigley
As director of advanced endoscopy at Houston Methodist Hospital and the Lynda K. and David M. Underwood Center for Digestive Health, Dr. Sunil Dacha has initiated an advanced endoscopy/pancreatico-biliary service that is critical to the success of the liver transplantation and gastrointestinal cancer programs and foregut surgery. Dr. Dacha’s work has greatly increased the range of advanced endoscopy techniques performed at Houston Methodist Hospital. He is also responsible for an advanced endoscopy fellowship, which is now considered one of the most comprehensive training programs in the country. Dr. Dacha enjoys a national reputation as an endoscopist and educator and is a key contributor to the research portfolio of the Underwood Center.
Cindy M. Martin, MD
Lois E. and Carl A. Davis Chair in Heart Failure
As chief of the Division of Heart Failure, Heart Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support at the Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, Dr. Martin is a nationally recognized expert in advanced heart failure, cardiac transplantation and circulatory assist devices as well as adult congenital heart disease. Her ongoing clinical studies center on translational research in advanced heart failure and right ventricular dysfunction, with additional research interests including congenital heart disease and genetic cardiomyopathy. Dr. Martin also is working closely with cardiovascular surgeons to initiate an organ donor program via ex-situ machine perfusion, which is becoming an increasingly viable technique for heart transplantation — helping to expand the donor pool and potentially shorten recipients’ wait times.
Kumar Pichumani, PhD
Dagmar Dunn Pickens Gipe Distinguished Professorship in Brain Tumor Research
A research physicist specializing in cancer metabolomics, Dr. Pichumani leads a lab at Houston Methodist’s Kenneth R. Peak Brain & Pituitary Treatment Center. His central research focuses on quantifying nutrient utilization in various subtypes of brain tumors using high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, in vivo magnetic resonance imaging spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Dr. Pichumani also co-invented a noninvasive, patented, licensed device that utilizes oscillating magnetic fields to disrupt the electron transport chain in the mitochondria of glioblastoma cells. This technology has led to the enrollment of new glioblastoma patients and ongoing monitoring of treatment effects. An associate research professor of neurosurgery, he also has mentored a number of research trainees.
Comron Saifi, MD
C. James and Carole Walter Looke Chair in Orthopedic Spine Surgery
Dr. Saifi is a specialist in minimally invasive spine surgery for spinal stenosis, spinal deformity and spinal tumors. He is a national leader in spine research to improve spine surgery outcomes in terms of both pain and safety. As an associate professor in orthopedic surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College and an adjunct clinical associate professor with Texas A&M’s School of Engineering Medicine (EnMed), Dr. Saifi serves as the orthopedic surgery core faculty advisor for the medical students. At Houston Methodist, he trains orthopedic surgery residents and spine surgery fellows. He also serves as the chief of orthopedic surgery at Houston Methodist Baytown Hospital. He is an active member of multiple professional organizations, including the Cervical Spine Research Society, Scoliosis Research Society and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, where he is also a fellow.
Kyuson Yun, PhD
Houston Methodist Chair in Neurodegenerative Disease Research
An expert in cancer biology, neuroinflammation, genetics and neurodegeneration, Dr. Yun is working toward the long-term goal of demonstrating the role of the immune system in both cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Her study findings of specific molecular mechanisms in both conditions provide innovative insights into their pathogenesis, a unique approach that has drawn international attention. Dr. Yun specializes in tumor immunology and was invited to join the Clinical Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumors study section at the National Institutes of Health as a regular member. She continues to focus on the role of neuroimmunology to identify underlying drivers of disease progression and develop interventions in neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
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