Dr. David Byrd Named Interim SCCA Medical Director

7/23/20

Dr. David Byrd

Dr. David Byrd, Professor, Division of General Surgery, has been named Interim Medical Director of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA). Dr. Marc Stewart, SCCA Medical Director and Senior Vice President, leaves SCCA in July 2020 for a position at City of Hope Cancer Center. Dr. Stewart has been an outstanding leader and an instrumental force helping SCCA grow to be one of the top 10 cancer centers in the United States. We wish him well in his new role at City of Hope and owe him enormous appreciation for all he has done for our cancer programs at UW Medicine and SCCA. While SCCA decides next steps for this position, Dr. Nancy Davidson, SCCA President and Executive Director, requested Dr. Byrd serve as Interim Medical Director starting August 2020.

There could not be a better person to step in and serve in this interim capacity than Dr. Byrd. Dr. Byrd has served his entire academic career here at University of Washington (UW), completing his residency at UW, surgical oncology fellowship at MD Anderson, and joining the faculty in 1992 to serve as the first Chief of Surgical Oncology. Dr. Byrd has served in a number of important and influential roles in oncology. Most recently, completing a six-year term as Chair of the American Joint Committee on Cancer, which is responsible for our cancer staging systems that drive all treatment decisions. At SCCA, Dr. Byrd has been the Chief of Surgical Oncology for 12 years, a member of the Senior Management Team for 10 years, and Chair of the Medical Executive Committee for 6 years. Most importantly, Dr. Byrd complements his enormous institutional knowledge with his calm and thoughtful decision-making, emotional intelligence and deep sense of integrity and fairness that makes him a trusted colleague and leader. I am thrilled that Dr. Byrd has agreed to serve in this important leadership role for SCCA, and I feel confident that we are in the best possible hands while identifying a new permanent Medical Director. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Byrd, and in helping to support him as he takes on this important role for our institution.

Douglas E. Wood, MD, FACS, FRCSEd
The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair