Contact: Karen Stamm, (210) 450-2020

Randal A. Otto, M.D., physician in chief at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center, is a specialist in head and neck cancers.
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Randal A. Otto, M.D., has been named physician in chief of the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio effective immediately, announced William L. Henrich, M.D, MACP, dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs. Dr. Otto will be responsible for the CTRC’s daily clinical operations, a role he has fulfilled on an interim basis since March 2008.

“My job is to make sure that the patient’s needs come first and that we live up to the high standards of being a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center,” Dr. Otto said. “This means we need to offer patients compassionate, convenient and efficient access to the highest quality health care professionals who are armed with the latest, best and most effective treatments.”

Head and neck cancer specialist
A specialist in head and neck cancers, Dr. Otto is professor and chair of the Department of Otolaryngology, a post he has held for seven years, and the Thomas W. Folbre, M.D. Endowed Chair in Otolaryngology. In addition to his administrative and active surgical practice, Dr. Otto conducts innovative and translational cancer research.

Dr. Otto attended the University of Missouri School of Medicine, where he also completed his residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. He was a member of the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Florida in Gainesville before being recruited to the UT Health Science Center in 1989.

Numerous awards and recognitions
He has received a number of distinguished awards including an honorary service award from the American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery; election to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society; and repeated recognition in lists of “America’s Top Doctors,” “Best Doctors in America” and “Top Doctors For Cancer.”

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The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is one of the nation’s leading academic research and treatment centers, serving more than 4.4 million people in the high-growth corridor of Central and South Texas including Austin, San Antonio, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley. CTRC is one of a few elite cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Designated Cancer Center, and is one of only three in Texas. CTRC handles more than 120,000 patient visits each year and is a world leader in developing new drugs to treat cancer. The CTRC Institute for Drug Development (IDD) is internationally recognized for conducting the largest oncology Phase I clinical drug trials program in the world, and participated in the clinical and/or preclinical development of many of the cancer drugs approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. For more information, visit www.ctrc.uthscsa.edu.