Ruben Mesa is president of Atrium Health Levine Cancer, executive director of the National Cancer Institute-designated Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center, and president of the Advocate Health Cancer National Service Line.
He also serves as vice dean for cancer programs and the Charles L. Spurr MD Professor of Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. In these roles, Dr. Mesa oversees cancer practice, research and education across Atrium Health, including locations in Charlotte, Winston-Salem and Georgia. An international expert in hematologic cancers, he has dedicated his career to research and drug development for myeloproliferative neoplasms, a group of chronic leukemias.
Dr. Mesa has led or co-led the development of six FDA-approved drugs and served as inaugural chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s first U.S. guideline panel for myeloproliferative neoplasms. He has authored more than 800 medical publications and has delivered more than 600 lectures and visiting professorships nationally and internationally.
Before joining Atrium Health, he served as executive director of the NCI-designated Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson.
Earlier, Dr. Mesa practiced hematology at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and Arizona, where he chaired hematology and medical oncology and served as deputy director of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center.
He earned his medical degree from Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, where he also completed his residency and fellowship training. Dr. Mesa holds leadership roles with the American Society of Hematology and the American Association for Cancer Research and has been appointed to the NCI Clinical Trials Advisory Committee.