S. Gail Eckhardt, MD, FASCO

Clinical Biography

S. Gail Eckhardt, MD, FASCO, is a medical oncologist and the Director of UT Health Austin’s Livestrong Cancer Institutes. She is also a part of UT Health Austin’s CaLM Care Team. She specializes in gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies and clinical trials. Additionally, Dr. Eckhardt is a courtesy professor for the Dell Medical School Department of Internal Medicine. She also serves as both the Chair of the Department of Oncology and the Associate Dean of Cancer Programs for the Dell Medical School.

Dr. Eckhardt earned her medical degree from The University of Texas Medical Branch. She completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Virginia Health Systems University Hospital and a fellowship in medical oncology at the University of California, San Diego. She also completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in experimental and molecular medicine at Scripps Research Institute.

Dr. Eckhardt is a visionary cancer leader, educator, and research innovator. She is the principal investigator on studies involving early clinical trials and colorectal cancer research. She has conducted numerous phase I and II clinical trials and has published over 200 manuscripts. She is overseeing the creation of a transdisciplinary cancer research program at The University of Texas at Austin and has served in many national leadership roles, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Board of Directors, the FDA Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Centers Study Section. She is a member of the NCI Investigational Drug Steering Committee and is a board member of the Association of American Cancer Institutes. She also serves on 10 external advisory boards of NCI designated cancer centers.