Wayne Roberts was named Chief Executive Officer of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas in November 2013 after nearly one year as the Interim Executive Director.  

Prior to four years with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston as Associate Vice President for Public Policy, Wayne’s career emphasized public finance and budget, especially related to higher education. 

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Wayne Roberts was named Chief Executive Officer of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas in November 2013 after nearly one year as the Interim Executive Director.  

Prior to four years with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston as Associate Vice President for Public Policy, Wayne’s career emphasized public finance and budget, especially related to higher education. 

Wayne held several senior positions under Governor Rick Perry, including State Budget Director.  He authored the white paper and draft legislation creating the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to catalyze economic development and commercialization of research conducted at Texas universities. 

Wayne served Governor George W. Bush as Deputy and Acting State Budget Director.  He was Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock’s Special Assistant for Budget and Health & Human Services following 18 years with the Legislative Budget Board.

He is the 2023 recipient of the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute Luminary Award for fostering innovations for potential medical breakthroughs in cancer prevention and cures.  Wayne was named the 2018 Administrator of the Year by the Texas State Agency Business Administrators’ Association for leadership and innovative ideas in support of state agency administration.  He was also awarded life membership in the National Association of State Budget Officers after holding several positions, including president, on their executive committee.  In 2009 Governor Perry appointed Wayne to the State Pension Review Board for a term that ended in 2016.

He received a B.A. with honors and special honors in government from The University of Texas at Austin and a master’s from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at UT.

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Dr. Le Beau leads CPRIT’s academic research program in supporting innovative cancer research and recruiting world-class cancer researchers to Texas institutions. Her distinguished research career has focused on basic and translational research. She is recognized for her work identifying recurring chromosomal abnormalities and defining the clinical and genetic subsets of leukemia, characterizing the genetic pathways that lead to hematological malignancies, and the application of fluorescence in situ hybridization for clinical diagnostics and gene mapping.

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Dr. Le Beau leads CPRIT’s academic research program in supporting innovative cancer research and recruiting world-class cancer researchers to Texas institutions. Her distinguished research career has focused on basic and translational research. She is recognized for her work identifying recurring chromosomal abnormalities and defining the clinical and genetic subsets of leukemia, characterizing the genetic pathways that lead to hematological malignancies, and the application of fluorescence in situ hybridization for clinical diagnostics and gene mapping.

Dr. Le Beau has also studied therapy-related neoplasms (t-MN), an aggressive myeloid leukemia developing after therapy for a primary malignancy. Dr. Le Beau and her colleagues are credited with recognizing several distinct cytogenetic and clinical subtypes of t-MN that are closely associated with the nature of the preceding treatment and are now recognized by the World Health Organization classification.

Prior to joining CPRIT in October 2021, Dr. Le Beau was the Arthur and Marian Edelstein Professor Emerita of Medicine and Director Emerita of the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, which she led for 17 years. She is the recipient of the 2020 Henry M. Stratton Medal from the American Society of Hematology. The medal, one of the cancer field’s top honors, recognizes investigators who have made well-recognized contributions to hematology research. Dr. Le Beau also received the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research’s Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research. This prestigious award recognizes a champion of cancer research whose leadership and achievements have had a major impact on the field.

A graduate of Purdue University, Dr. Le Beau earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in pathology from the University of Illinois at the Medical Center.

Dr. Le Beau is CPRIT’s fourth chief scientific officer. She replaced Dr. James K.V. Willson, M.D., who retired after serving CPRIT’s chief scientific officer since 2016. He was preceded Dr. Margaret Kripke (2012 – 2016) and Nobel Laureate Dr. Alfred Gilman (2009 – 2012).

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Ramona Magid heads up CPRIT’s prevention program in supporting evidence-based prevention services in all 254 counties of Texas. Her responsibilities include directing the prevention program and fostering collaboration among the cancer and disease prevention community to maximize CPRIT's impact.

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Ramona Magid heads up CPRIT’s prevention program in supporting evidence-based prevention services in all 254 counties of Texas. Her responsibilities include directing the prevention program and fostering collaboration among the cancer and disease prevention community to maximize CPRIT's impact. She has been with CPRIT since January 2010, first as the Senior Program Manager for Prevention and currently as Chief Prevention Officer.

Prior to joining CPRIT, Ramona served as Executive Director of the Austin Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization where she was responsible for the overall operations of the Affiliate and oversight of the Race for the Cure. Previously, she was employed by Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee as a health services research manager and as a Specialist in Blood Banking.

Ramona received a bachelor's degree in medical technology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and obtained a master's degree in business administration from Memphis State University.

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Dr. Smith joined CPRIT as its inaugural Chief Due Diligence and Patent Officer in September 2021. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the life science industry across a broad range of business and legal sectors, including cofounding biotech companies and working as patent counsel for major pharmaceutical companies.

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Dr. Smith joined CPRIT as its inaugural Chief Due Diligence and Patent Officer in September 2021. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the life science industry across a broad range of business and legal sectors, including cofounding biotech companies and working as patent counsel for major pharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining CPRIT, he advised life science companies at all stages of development. Dr. Smith also served as outside counsel to CPRIT for the past decade, performing due diligence reviews on the IP estate of companies considered for CPRIT product development grants.

Dr. Smith received his J.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Houston. He also holds an MBA and a master’s degree in Biochemistry.

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Ms. Doyle is responsible for overseeing the legal issues that arise as part of CPRIT’s operations, including grant award contract negotiations, intellectual property and revenue sharing agreements, conflicts of interest and confidentiality, and regulatory/compliance issues.  Prior to joining CPRIT, Ms. Doyle was a partner at an Austin-based law firm and served as Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Central Texas Chapter for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

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Ms. Doyle is responsible for overseeing the legal issues that arise as part of CPRIT’s operations, including grant award contract negotiations, intellectual property and revenue sharing agreements, conflicts of interest and confidentiality, and regulatory/compliance issues.  Prior to joining CPRIT, Ms. Doyle was a partner at an Austin-based law firm and served as Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Central Texas Chapter for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Ms. Doyle has spent the majority of her legal career practicing administrative law, with an emphasis in the field of energy and regulatory law. She received her undergraduate degree in Public Policy, magna cum laude, from Indiana University and her doctorate of Jurisprudence from The University of Texas at Austin School of Law. In 2012, Ms. Doyle received her Masters of Science in Technology Commercialization from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. She is a frequent speaker on administrative law and legislative policy issues.

Ms. Doyle joined CPRIT in July of 2009.

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Ms. McConnell has oversight of CPRIT’s daily operations, including financial administration, grant administration, information technology services, procurement, human resources, facilities, and CPRIT conference planning. She has been with CPRIT since 2009.

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Ms. McConnell has oversight of CPRIT’s daily operations, including financial administration, grant administration, information technology services, procurement, human resources, facilities, and CPRIT conference planning. She has been with CPRIT since 2009.

Before joining CPRIT, Ms. McConnell served as a Senior Budget Advisor and an Advisor for Health Services under Governor Rick Perry. She worked on state budget issues as well as an array of policy and finance issues for the Medicaid program, Children’s Health Insurance Program, public health disease prevention and control programs, and health care regulation. Her previous experience also includes employment at the Legislative Budget Board and The University of Texas at Austin’s IC² Institute.

A native of Austin, Texas, Ms. McConnell earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University and a Master of Public Affairs from The University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs.

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Mr. Burgess oversees compliance strategy and planning for CPRIT’s grant review, award, and monitoring processes.  As the Chief Compliance Officer, he is also responsible for assessing and ensuring compliance by the Institute’s committee members and employees with applicable laws, rules, and policies, including matters of ethics and standards of conduct, financial reporting, internal accounting controls, and auditing.

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Mr. Burgess oversees compliance strategy and planning for CPRIT’s grant review, award, and monitoring processes.  As the Chief Compliance Officer, he is also responsible for assessing and ensuring compliance by the Institute’s committee members and employees with applicable laws, rules, and policies, including matters of ethics and standards of conduct, financial reporting, internal accounting controls, and auditing.

Mr. Burgess has spent the majority of his career working in local government in California.  Most recently, he was the Administrator of Compliance, Quality, and Outcomes for the Solano County (Calif.) Health and Social Services Department, overseeing Division operations with an emphasis in contracting, utilization management, and compliance.  Mr. Burgess has a particular interest in quality improvement and system development.

Mr. Burgess joined CPRIT in 2015.

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