Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, and José P. Zevallos, MD, MPH, have been selected and agreed to serve as deputy directors of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, effective November 1, 2025. Drs. Schmitz and Zevallos served as interim director and deputy director, respectively, since January of this year.
Dr. Schmitz is professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh and served UPMC Hillman as its inaugural associate director of population sciences and founding director of the UPMC Moving Through Cancer Program. She is an international thought leader in the field of exercise oncology and has been consistently funded by the National Cancer Institute since 2001. Dr. Schmitz has won numerous awards, including being the first oncology researcher to receive the President’s Council on Fitness Lifetime Achievement Award. Overall, she has more than 350 publications, with a Google Scholar h-index of 91. Dr. Schmitz earned her PhD and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in epidemiology at the University of Minnesota. She joined Pitt in 2022, from Penn State College of Medicine, where she served as Distinguished Professor of Public Health Sciences. Prior to that, she served as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
As Deputy Director, Dr. Schmitz will provide strategic leadership across research, education, and program development. She will assume operational responsibility during the Director’s absence, represent the center in institutional and national settings and guide preparation for our upcoming Cancer Center Support Grant submission. She will oversee integration and advancement of population sciences, strengthen team-based scientific initiatives, and expand educational and community-focused research efforts. Dr. Schmitz will also participate in financial planning, support development activities, and play a key role in faculty recruitment, retention, and performance evaluation. Additionally, she will help lead faculty affairs processes and champion high-impact scientific programming. This expanded leadership role reflects our commitment to advancing the center’s mission and strengthening our scientific and educational excellence.
Dr. Zevallos is a head and neck surgeon-scientist and the Eugene N. Myers, M.D. Professor and Chair of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC. Dr. Zevallos also serves as co-principal investigator of the Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant in head and neck cancer. Dr. Zevallos’ clinical practice includes the full depth and breadth of head and neck surgical oncology, with a special emphasis on transoral robotic surgery for HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer and complex thyroid surgery. He is an accomplished researcher and highly sought-after speaker nationally and internationally in these fields. His laboratory pioneered the development of novel liquid biopsy approaches to measuring minimal residual disease and tumor-immune interactions in head and neck cancer patients treated surgically. Dr. Zevallos has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles. He holds multiple national leadership positions in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, including service on the Exam Council for the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Chair of the Grants Service for the American Head and Neck Society, and proffered poster chair for the 2026 International Meeting in Head and Neck Cancer. In addition, Dr. Zevallos has multiple patents and cofounded two biotechnology companies, including a molecular diagnostics start-up company, Droplet Biosciences (Cambridge, MA), which introduced novel methods for detection and quantification of residual cancer after surgery. He also serves as chief scientific advisor and co-inventor of soft robotics technology with Vine Medical (Santa Barbara, CA). Prior to coming to the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Zevallos was the Division Chief of Head and Neck Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine and the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis, MO, where he led the advanced head and neck surgical oncology fellowship training program.
In his capacity as Deputy Director, Dr. Zevallos will serve as a key member of the senior leadership team with a focus on clinical and departmental affairs. He will strengthen relationships across the cancer center network and support alignment with academic departments to advance recruitment and programmatic needs. Dr. Zevallos will play an essential part in preparing for the upcoming Cancer Center Support Grant, helping to optimize the clinical network, expand the translational scope of key research programs, and ensure the continued growth of surgical research excellence. He will also contribute to team science development, entrepreneurial support for investigators, and educational initiatives including mentorship of early-career faculty. Additional responsibilities include budget participation, support for development activities, leadership in faculty recruitment and retention, and serving as a liaison to the clinical network to enhance trial access and integration. This important leadership appointment reflects our commitment to strengthening clinical research operations and advancing the mission of the cancer center.
