Alexander Bishop, DPhil, has been named Director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – Nationwide Children’s Hospital welcomes Alexander Bishop, DPhil, as the director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute (AWRI), effective June 1, 2025. He will also serve as principal investigator in the center, as well as the Richard J. Solove Endowed Professor and Chair in Cancer Clinical Developmental Therapeutics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
“Dr. Bishop's expertise will help advance the research and discoveries coming out of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research,” said Dennis Durbin, MD, MSCE, president of the AWRI. “We are pleased to have Dr. Bishop join us as director where he will continue his impactful research and support our exceptional faculty in understanding the pathogenesis of childhood cancer and improving strategies for diagnosis and treatment."
Prior to joining Nationwide Children’s, Dr. Bishop served as a professor in the Department of Cell Systems and Anatomy and as a principal investigator at the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute at the University of Texas Health San Antonio. With over 25 years of experience in molecular genetics and systems biology, Dr. Bishop’s research focuses on DNA damage response and DNA repair mechanisms — particularly homologous recombination, BRCA1 biology and R-loops. His research has significantly contributed to both fundamental biological insights and the identification of novel therapeutic opportunities for Ewing sarcoma and the rare genetic disease Ataxia telangiectasia.
Dr. Bishop leads a nationally and internationally collaborative research program that has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and foundations such as Stand Up to Cancer, the B+ Foundation, The Rutledge Foundation, the Jeff Gordon Foundation and others.
He has authored more than 75 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals including Nature and Science. In addition to his research, Dr. Bishop serves as an ad hoc reviewer for leading journals such as Nature, Nucleic Acids Research and Clinical Cancer Research. He chairs NIH and Department of Defense study sections, reviews grants for numerous foundations and contributes to national committees, including the American Association for Cancer Research and the Ewing Sarcoma Biology Committee of the Children’s Oncology Group.
A dedicated mentor, Dr. Bishop has trained postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and medical trainees, earning multiple teaching awards and induction into the Shine Academy. His commitment to research education is further reflected in his receipt of an NIH R15 award and, most recently, a National Cancer Institute T32 grant to support the training of the next generation of cancer researchers.
“I am thrilled to join Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Center for Childhood Cancer Research. This is an exciting opportunity to build on a strong foundation and contribute meaningfully to the hospital’s mission of developing new and advanced pediatric treatments,” said Alex Bishop, DPhil. “I look forward to close collabration with the Center's talented faculty to accelerate progess toward new therapies and intend to recruit investigators with complementary expertise that bridges fundamental discovery and clinical application, to turn discovery into impact for children with cancer."
About The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital
Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-24 list of “Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of America’s largest not-for-profit free-standing pediatric health care systems providing unique expertise in pediatric population health, behavioral health, genomics and health equity as the next frontiers in pediatric medicine, leading to best outcomes for the health of the whole child. Integrated clinical and research programs are part of what allows Nationwide Children’s to advance its unique model of care. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s faculty train the next generation of pediatricians, scientists and pediatric specialists. The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded free-standing pediatric research facilities in the U.S., supporting basic, clinical, translational, behavioral and population health research. The AWRI is comprised of multidisciplinary Centers of Emphasis paired with advanced infrastructure supporting capabilities such as technology commercialization for discoveries; gene- and cell-based therapies; and genome sequencing and analysis. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org/Research.