Carle Illinois College of Medicine Associate Dean for Research and Innovation Claudius Conrad has been invested as the Phyllis M. Wise Professor of Medicine and Innovation. The honor recognizes Dr. Conrad’s exceptional contributions both as a world-renowned surgical oncologist and as a medical innovator.
The new professorship is named in honor of former University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Phyllis Wise, who spearheaded the effort to establish the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the world’s first engineering-based medical college.
Dr. Conrad is a tenured full professor at the U. of I. and a board-certified surgical oncologist with a focus on minimally invasive hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) cancer surgery. He joined CI MED in March 2024 as the Director of Translational Research for the Cancer Center at Illinois and the Medical Director of Surgical Strategy and Innovation for Carle Health. He became CI MED’s Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in 2024.
He holds affiliate appointments at the Department of Bioengineering and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
With dual PhDs in Cell Biology and Music Philosophy, Dr. Conrad’s research program focuses on understanding cancer biology/cancer prognostication, improving surgical outcomes through novel technology, and investigating the science of music in clinical medicine, a field he co-founded.
Among Conrad’s projects at CI MED is an effort funded by a grant from FujiFilm to harness the company’s state-of-the-art “Vincent” technology – an advanced visualization system – to redefine surgical planning and execution. The work integrates advanced visualization and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to transform how surgeons approach the removal of tumors in the liver, pancreas, and bile ducts.
Before coming to CI MED, Conrad held appointments as an instructor in surgery at Harvard Medical School, assistant professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center, associate professor at Tufts, and full professor at Boston University.
The new professorship is the first at CI MED and is funded by a gift from donors Jane Hays and her late husband Dave Downey.