Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center
Our Leadership

Susan Blaney, MD

David G. Poplack, M.D., Chair of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Texas Children's Hospital

Elise C. Young Chair of Pediatric Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine

Director, Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center

Section Chief, Hematology-Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine

Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Hematology-Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine

Susan Blaney, MD is the Elise C. Young Chair of Pediatric Oncology at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), Director of Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center and Section Chief of Hematology/Oncology for Baylor College of Medicine. She was the Vice Chair of the Children's Oncology Group (COG) from 2013-2020. COG is a National Cancer Institute (NCI) supported clinical trials group dedicated to improving the outcome for children with cancer and is the world's largest organization devoted exclusively to pediatric cancer research.

Dr. Blaney is a board-certified pediatric oncologist whose career over the past 25 years has focused on the development of new agents and therapeutic strategies for children with recurrent or refractory cancer, particularly for those with malignancies of the central nervous system. She has extensive experience in clinical translational research and previously served as the Principal Investigator of the Children’s Oncology Phase 1 and Pilot Consortium, as well as one of the founding members of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium. Dr. Blaney has played a leadership role in the development of numerous clinical trials of novel agents for the treatment of childhood cancer.

Donald Williams (Will) Parsons, MD, PhD

Beverly and Daniel C. Arnold Endowed Chair for Precision Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital

Deputy Director, Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center

Co-Director, Brain Tumor Program

Co-Director, Cancer Genetics and Genomics Program

Director, Center for Precision Oncology

Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Hematology-Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine

Donald Williams (Will) Parsons, MD, PhD is Deputy Director of Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center, Baylor College of Medicine. He is a board-certified pediatric hematologist-oncologist who also serves as Co-Director of the Brain Tumor Program, Co-Director of the Cancer Genetics and Genomics Program, and Director of the Center for Precision Oncology within Texas Children’s Cancer Center. Dr. Parsons has distinguished himself as one of the country’s leaders in the field of cancer genomics and the use of “precision oncology” approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of children with high-risk and relapsed cancers.

Dr. Parsons has published more than 60 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, including: Science, Nature, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA Oncology, and Genome Medicine. He has been awarded numerous honors for his research, such as the Peter A. Steck Memorial Award for Brain Tumor Research (2009). Parsons is a Graham Cancer Research Scholar at Texas Children’s Cancer Center and has received funding from multiple sources to support his work on the genetic causes of pediatric cancers, such as the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), the National Human Genome Research Institute, the National Cancer Institute, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the Gillson-Longenbaugh Foundation, the American Brain Tumor Association, the American Society for Clinical Oncology, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Sidney Kimmel Foundation, and the Sontag Foundation.