The University of Florida Health Cancer Center is pleased to announce that Merry-Jennifer Markham, M.D., FACP, has been appointed the center’s associate director for medical affairs.
In this role, Dr. Markham will be responsible for advancing the mission of the UFHCC to provide excellence in cancer care as well as facilitating the incorporation of clinical research into clinical oncology practice. She will oversee operational quality to maximize efficiency, patient access and patient satisfaction at all UFHCC ambulatory and inpatient cancer care sites. She will serve as chair of the UF Health cancer committee.
“Dr. Markham is an outstanding clinician with a deep dedication to continuous quality improvement in medicine,” said Jonathan Licht, M.D., director of the UF Health Cancer Center. “She’s done an outstanding job in attaining ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative certification for us and will take these skills across the medical center to harmonize clinical care with clinical research and to assure patient-centered, responsive and progressive medical care.”
Dr. Markham takes over this role from C. Parker Gibbs Jr., M.D., who was named chief medical officer for UF Health Shands in October. Hers is one of several recently added or updated leadership positions at the center; this revamped leadership team and Dr. Licht will work with clinical, population science and laboratory-based faculty and staff to develop and implement new and innovative strategies for the treatment and prevention of cancer. These leadership positions are critical in aligning the UF Health Cancer Center with the center structure required for NCI designation.
“It is such an honor to have been considered and appointed to this position,” said Dr. Markham. “My goal as an oncologist has always been to provide the most patient-centric, up-to-date cancer care possible to my patients. Improving the patient experience from the diagnosis of cancer through cure or the end of life is something I’m passionate about. I’m excited to be able to use this passion for providing quality cancer care throughout the cancer continuum to the entire institution.”
A UF alumna, Dr. Markham is a clinical investigator and educator in the division of hematology and oncology at the University of Florida, specializing in the treatment of gynecologic malignancies. She graduated from medical school at the University of Miami in 2001 and completed three years of internal medicine residency — as well as one year as chief medical resident — at the University of Florida. She then went on to complete a combined fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at UF in 2008.
Since 2011, she has served as the program leader for the multidisciplinary gynecologic oncology program at UF Health and currently serves as the co-leader of the gynecologic cancers disease site group. She also serves as the program director of the quality oncology practice initiative at the UFHCC — and is an associate professor in the division of hematology and oncology in the UF College of Medicine. Dr. Markham previously held the roles of assistant clerkship director of the UF College of Medicine’s internal medicine clerkship and director of the adult cancer survivor clinic.
Dr. Markham also has 13 years of education, teaching and mentoring experience. She is actively involved in undergraduate and graduate medical education and is a mentor to numerous trainees and junior faculty. Since 2015, she’s served as division education director in the division of hematology and oncology and has received the UF College of Medicine Exemplary Teacher award five years in row.
To date, Dr. Markham has held a key role in 19 clinical research projects/clinical trials. She has served as an invited reviewer for several publications, most recently the Journal of Global Oncology and the Annals of Oncology. She is the author of 35 peer-reviewed publications and has been invited to give numerous presentations locally and nationally.
Additionally, she is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Society of Gynecologic Oncology and the NRG Oncology cooperative clinical trials group. She is a fellow in the American College of Physicians and serves on the ASCO quality oncology practice initiative steering group and the ASCO social media working group. She is a consultant editor for social media for the Journal of Clinical Oncology and was recently accepted into the highly competitive ASCO leadership development program.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Markham as she steps into her new role as associate director for medical affairs of the University of Florida Health Cancer Center.
