David Johnson, M.D.

Biography

Dr. Johnson joined the UT Southwestern Medical Center faculty on July 1, 2010 as the Donald W. Seldin Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine. Prior to joining UT Southwestern he was a member of the faculty at the Vanderbilt University Medical School where he held the Cornelius A. Craig Chair of Medical & Surgical Oncology and served as the Director of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Deputy Director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. He is a Past Chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Board of Directors.  He is also Past Chair of the ABIM Medical Oncology Subspecialty Board and a Past President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).  During his term as ASCO President he helped advance the organization’s quality of care activity known as the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) and was instrumental in establishing ASCO’s Cancer Survivorship Program. Dr. Johnson has served on the Food and Drug Administration’s Oncology Drug Advisory Committee, as chairman of the Thoracic Committee of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and on the Board of Directors of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer and the LiveSTRONG Foundation. Dr. Johnson’s research interests involve understanding the biology of lung cancer and improving the treatment of this and other solid tumors. He played a role in the development of the new targeted drugs bevacizumab (Avastin) and erlotinib (Tarceva) both of which are now FDA-approved for the treatment of lung cancer. Dr. Johnson earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia and received medical oncology training at Vanderbilt University.