Danny R. Welch PhD

Danny Welch, PhD, joined the University of Kansas Cancer Center in April 2011 as associate director of Basic Science. He serves as the founding director of the Department of Cancer Biology and director for National Foundation for Cancer Research Center for Metastasis Research for The University of Kansas Medical Center, chair and professor of Cancer Biology at The University of Kansas School of Medicine and is a Kansas Bioscience Authority Eminent Scholar.

“Dr. Welch is an outstanding scientist with superb administrative credentials and we are fortunate to have him join KU in this leadership role,” said Paul Terranova, PhD, vice chancellor for research at The University of Kansas Medical Center. “The new Department of Cancer Biology supports the interdisciplinary and collegial atmosphere within the cancer center with a focus on faculty research and training, and mentoring of student scholars.”

The focus of Dr. Welch’s research is on the science of tumor progression and the regulation of cancer metastasis. His lab has developed and characterized many widely used metastasis models, discovering six of the 30 known metastasis suppressors. With experience in genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology, his research interests includes breast, melanoma, ovarian, pancreatic, colorectal, glioblastoma and lymphoma.