Dr. Johnson has led Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center as president and CEO since 2015, holding the M&T Bank Presidential Chair in Leadership and serving as professor of oncology and making history as the first woman to lead the institution. She has led a period of significant growth in staff and patients served, and has brought highly acclaimed physicians and scientists from around the world to Western New York. Under her leadership, Roswell Park has expanded pivotal program areas including immunotherapy, cellular therapies, and community outreach and engagement, reflecting her foundational expertise in translational research and her commitment to facilitating the seamless bench-to-bedside development and delivery of promising new cancer therapies. Prior to her appointment as CEO, she served as deputy director of the center and chair of the department of pharmacology and therapeutics for more than a decade. From 1997 to 2002, she served as deputy director of basic research at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and professor of pharmacology and medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. A distinguished researcher, Dr. Johnson has authored or co-authored nearly 200 journal publications, book chapters and abstracts, holds patents on the use of pretreatment chemicals to enhance the efficacy of cytotoxic agents, and has served on the National Cancer Institute review group and its experimental therapeutics study section. She serves as senior editor of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, on multiple other editorial boards, and has chaired the NCI Frederick National Laboratory Advisory Committee since 2021.
