Timothy Heffernan, Ph.D.

Dr. Timothy Heffernan is currently the Executive Director and Head of Oncology Research at the Institute for Applied Cancer Science (IACS), an integrated drug discovery and development unit within MD Anderson Cancer Center. He also serves as Director for the Center for Co-Clinical Trials, a translational biology platform focused on accelerating the pre-clinical evaluation of novel drugs to inform innovative clinical trials. Dr. Heffernan earned his degree in Cell and Molecular Pathology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and performed his postdoctoral training at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. His expertise lies in basic and translational cancer research, cancer genomics, and targeted oncology therapeutics. Dr. Heffernan currently manages the development of an advanced small molecule drug discovery portfolio coordinating research on programs from target identification through IND enabling studies and phase 1 clinical development. Prior to joining MD Anderson, Dr. Heffernan led target identification efforts at the Belfer Institute at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and also was a Senior Vice President at C4 Therapeutics Inc., where he managed the drug discovery and translational biology efforts to advance a portfolio of internal and partnered programs.