Anita Harrison has been named the associate director of administration of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center effective Jan. 20. Harrison brings more than three decades of experience providing senior and executive-level research administrative leadership for cancer centers that have achieved and maintained the prestigious National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation.
Throughout her distinguished career, Harrison has played a pivotal role in strengthening research infrastructure and advancing biomedical research across numerous academic medical centers. Most recently, she served as Executive Director for Research Strategy at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, where she led strategic research efforts and directed multiple offices supporting research proposal development with a focus on large team science applications, clinical trials, research education and training, and administratively led all efforts related to the Cancer Center Support Grant. Under her leadership, Massey achieved its highest merit rating and score and was bestowed comprehensive status for the first time in its 48-year history.
Her previous roles include Senior Director at Huron Consulting Group, where she advised institutions seeking NCI designation and improved research administration operations; Associate Center Director for Administration at Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina and at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University in St. Louis, where she guided both centers to their first NCI designation awards. Harrison began her career directing clinical trials offices within the cancer centers at Wake Forest University and the University of California, San Francisco.
Harrison’s expertise spans strategic planning, team science initiatives, clinical trials, and community-engaged research. She has successfully guided dozens of institutions through complex grant submissions, including P30 Cancer Center Support Grants, P50 SPOREs, and other NIH P and U series mechanisms, and has championed programs for early-career and leadership development. Her national reputation is reflected in her service on external advisory boards for leading cancer centers and her contributions to NCI working groups.
Harrison earned degrees in Public Administration/Public Policy and Economics from UNC-Chapel Hill. Her deep knowledge, collaborative spirit, and proven leadership will be instrumental as we continue to advance our mission of reducing cancer burden through research, care, and outreach.
About UNC Lineberger
The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center is a cancer research and treatment center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Serving patients at the N.C. Basnight Cancer Hospital, UNC Lineberger is the only public comprehensive cancer center in the state of North Carolina.
As one of only 57 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, UNC Lineberger was rated as exceptional – the highest category – by the National Cancer Institute. The center brings together some of the most exceptional physicians and scientists in the country to investigate and improve the prevention, early detection and treatment of cancer.
With research that spans the spectrum from the laboratory to the bedside to the community, UNC Lineberger faculty work to understand the causes of cancer at the genetic and environmental levels, to conduct groundbreaking laboratory research, and to translate findings into pioneering and innovative clinical trials.
Media contact: Erin Sommer, erin.sommer@unchealth.unc.edu