Norman Sharpless, MD

Dr. Sharpless is a physician, scientist, entrepreneur and former federal official, serving as Director of the National Cancer Institute from 2017 to 2022, and as Acting Commissioner of the FDA in 2019. Prior to government, Dr. Sharpless was the Wellcome Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Director of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine. He is on the boards Karius Inc., Nucleus Radiopharma, the Eshelman Institute for Innovation, the CEO Roundtable on Cancer and the American Cancer Society; and is the co-Founder and Managing Director of Jupiter BioVentures. He was founder and board member of G1 Therapeutics, which developed the FDA-approved medicine Cosela (Trilaciclib), used to prevent chemotherapy toxicity. He is the Professor of Cancer Policy and Innovation at the UNC School of Medicine, and is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy, the Association of American Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the National Academy of Medicine. He received an MD from the UNC School of Medicine, followed by an internal medicine residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a hematology/oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care, both of Harvard Medical School.