W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, has been named director of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Division of Hematology and Oncology. Rathmell is a physician-scientist whose research focuses on the genetic and molecular signals that drive renal cell carcinomas and who specializes in the treatment of patients with rare and complex kidney cancers, as well as prostate, bladder and testicular cancer.

She comes to Vanderbilt from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she held leadership roles with the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Rathmell earned undergraduate degrees in biology and chemistry at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, and then continued her education with a PhD in biophysics and her medical degree from Stanford University. Following an internship at the University of Chicago, she completed residency and fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.

She assumed her new position as division director at Vanderbilt on Sept. 1.