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Shelton Earp, MD, has been named director of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Earp has served as interim director since June 2017, a role he accepted after Norman E. “Ned” Sharpless, MD, UNC Lineberger’s director since January 2014, was nominated to become the director of the National Cancer Institute.


Shelley Earp has held leadership roles on the UNC Lineberger faculty for more than 40 years, including being the cancer center’s director from 1997-2014. He is the Lineberger Professor of Cancer Research as well as professor of medicine and pharmacology at the UNC School of Medicine.

“Dr. Earp’s contributions to cancer care and research at UNC cannot be overstated,” said Wesley Burks, MD, Executive Dean of the UNC School of Medicine. “We are very fortunate to have him once again serving as director of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.”

He will remain as director of UNC Cancer Care, which coordinates cancer care and clinical research across the School of Medicine, UNC, and UNC Health Care System.

In addition to his administrative work, Earp maintains an active, RO1- and foundation-funded laboratory effort exploring receptor kinase signaling in cancer cells and in the body’s immune response to malignancy. He has co-led the NCI-funded UNC Breast Cancer SPORE (Specialized Program of Research Excellence) since 1992 and the UNC Lineberger-North Carolina Central University partnership to explore minority disparities in cancer outcomes.