CPRIT executive director resigns

William Gimson, executive director of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, submitted a letter of resignation to the institute's board on Monday. In the letter, Gimson said that during the last eight months, those at CPRIT have "not been able to do their jobs due to wasted efforts expanded in low value activities that do nothing to advance cures for cancer." He added that he has "been placed in a situation where I feel I can no longer be effective." Gimson said he would be willing to remain until the Jan. 17, 2013, meeting of the institute's oversight committee. The publicly funded agency, which is tasked with financing basic and translational cancer research and cancer prevention, could not be reached for comment.

Separately, CPRIT named Margaret Kripke as CSO, effective Jan. 7, 2013. Kripke retired in 2007 as EVP and chief academic officer of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She also served on the President's Cancer Panel, which advises the President on activities at NIH's National Cancer Institute. ...