The last time it was announced that Mary Beckerle would be leaving the Huntsman Cancer Institute, there was uproar.
That came in 2017 when then-leaders of the University of Utah — where the institute operates — made the controversial decision to abruptly fire Beckerle, catapulting the Salt Lake City school into national headlines. Faculty protested in anger. And the Huntsman family that founded and funds the renowned center called the situation a “power grab” and demanded that Beckerle be reinstated.
After a week, the U. acquiesced. Beckerle returned as CEO of the institute, a post the beloved researcher has otherwise steadily held since 2006.
That tenure will now come to an end this fall. But this time, it’s her choice.
On Wednesday, the Huntsman Cancer Institute and Beckerle jointly announced that she will formally step down as the top boss in September. That was met with praise for the work she’s done and the milestones she’s accomplished — and only a little uproar from those sad to see her go.
“For the past 20 years, Dr. Mary Beckerle has been at the forefront of building Huntsman Cancer Institute into one of the premier cancer research and clinical care institutes in the world,” said Peter Huntsman, chairman and CEO of Huntsman Cancer Foundation that supports the center, in a statement.
Beckerle has been at the cancer institute since 1999, shortly after it opened, starting as a researcher who specialized in studying tumor progression, including a rare form affecting young children and teens. That has won her national recognition as a scientific powerhouse in the field.
Her research has also continued to be funded for more than 30 years by the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, and the American Cancer Society as she’s continued to run her own lab while also leading the institute.
Her departure comes at a difficult time, though, for research funding in particular. President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted and is trying to significantly cut back on how much federal money will be designated for research projects moving forward under the NIH.
The University of Utah, alone, could see a $43.5 million loss under the plans currently paused by pending lawsuits.
The U. is the only public research university in Utah that also operates an adjoining hospital, medical system and academic medical program, which includes the cancer institute’s groundbreaking work. Nationwide, the cuts are expected to be as deep as $4 billion if the effort moves forward.
It is unclear if that tension contributed to Beckerle’s decision to retire. But she will spend the next few months transitioning out of her leadership role. Brad Cairns, currently the head of academic affairs at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, is slated to take the reins from her, according to a news release from the center.
Meanwhile, Beckerle isn’t going far. She will “remain in service” to the institute, the news release says, as a member of the Huntsman Cancer Foundation’s board of directors. She will also be a distinguished professor of biology and oncological services at the U. And she will maintain the positions she holds on several national science advisory boards.
In a statement Wednesday, she called holding the CEO post for two decades “an incredible honor.”
“I am asked so often by colleagues around the world how it is possible we have achieved so much in a relatively short time,” she said. “The answer to me is clear: our people, all united around a compelling mission.”
She mentioned by name the late Jon M. Huntsman Sr. who, along with his wife, Karen Huntsman, launched the cancer institute as part of their mission to cure the disease. Huntsman, the family patriarch, died in 2018, at the age of 80, following his own long-term health challenges. It was a charitable passion of his to endow the cancer institute that sits on the hillside of the University of Utah’s campus.
Beckerle also credited patients, faculty, staff and students.
“We have convened a community where every aspect of what we do is laser focused on delivering hope, healing and improved outcomes,” she said.
(Huntsman Cancer Institute) Pictured is Huntsman Cancer Institute CEO Mary Beckerle in this photo from 2011.
(Huntsman Cancer Institute) Pictured is Mary Beckerle, who is stepping down in September 2025 as the CEO of the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Under her leadership, the Huntsman Cancer Institute became the region’s only National Cancer Institute-designated “comprehensive cancer center.” It covers Utah, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Wyoming.
Beckerle also led the institute in several building expansions, the collection of many national accolades and the work of new discoveries.
“Through the visionary guidance of Dr. Beckerle, Huntsman Cancer Institute was propelled to international prominence,” said U. President Taylor Randall in a statement Wednesday. “… We are deeply grateful for Dr. Beckerle’s extraordinary service and direction.”
What happened in 2017
It was under then-U. President David Pershing that the contentious decision to fire Beckerle was made. And it led to Pershing and then-U. Health CEO Vivian Lee both stepping down from their leadership roles shortly after the turmoil.
Beckerle was initially fired by Pershing and Lee in April 2017.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Showing their opposition, Huntsman Cancer Institute researcher Jude Rosenthal, center, joins a large group of protesters following the announcement that Mary Beckerle, acclaimed researcher at Huntsman Cancer Institute, was fired from her post as CEO and director.
At the time she had been CEO for 11 years, and she said she was found out in an email that she was being terminated.
“It was totally surprising,” Beckerle said at the time. “I didn’t expect it at all.”
Pershing and Lee did not provide a reason for the firing and immediately faced backlash from upset faculty and outcry from the Huntsmans. The family called it a “hostile takeover” of the institute.
Karen and Jon M. Huntsman Sr. demanded that Beckerle be reinstated, threatening to table a planned $130 million funding agreement and promising a lawsuit.
(Huntsman Cancer Institute) Pictured is Mary Beckerle, CEO of the Huntsman Cancer Institute, standing between its founders, Karen and Jon M. Huntsman, in this photo from 2011.
Pershing moved to have Beckerle returned to her post. He apologized and later said there had been concerns over ties between the cancer institute and U. health sciences regarding governance and cost accounting. Beckerle had previously raised concerns with Pershing that the U. was not following the financial agreement signed with the Huntsman family.
In the end, the U. also agreed to wall off management decisions of the Huntsman Cancer Institute from the oversight of University of Utah Health, which the Huntsmans had called for. The CEO of the institute now reports directly to the U. president.
Emails later released through public records requests showed that Pershing had been talking to Lee about how they might take “total control of all cancer operations within the university.”
He wrote: “I mean so Mary [Beckerle] really works only for you, and we somehow also get control of the fundraising.”
Before that, Lee had been praised for her innovation while CEO of University of Utah Health, as well as the dean of its medical school and senior vice president for health sciences. Since arriving at the U. in 2011, she bumped the U.’s quality ranking from No. 7 to No. 1 in the nation.
After stepping down, Lee returned for a short time to a teaching position and then quietly left and went into the private health care sector in 2018.
Beckerle’s accomplishments
During her leadership at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, Beckerle also boasted a long list of achievements.
She originally joined the U.’s faculty in 1986 after earning a Ph.D. in molecular, cellular and developmental biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder and completing post-doctoral research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Her research largely focused on Ewing’s sarcoma.
(Huntsman Cancer Institute) Pictured is Mary Beckerle, then a researcher, in this photo from 2006.
(Huntsman Cancer Institute) Pictured is Mary Beckerle in this undated photo from when she was presenting sarcoma research.
When she took over as the leader of the Huntsman Cancer Institute, she expanded the main facility twice. That grew inpatient capacity from 50 to 148 beds and doubled research lab space. Outpatient visits also grew to more than 350,000, according to the institute, under her watch.
She helped oversee the addition of six affiliate cancer care sites in five states neighboring Utah, as well as a new cancer clinic opening soon in Vineyard and one for the upcoming U. hospital in West Valley City.
Under her guidance, too, more than 270 institute researchers also annually receive about $140 million in funding to study different cancers, including cancer-fighting drugs, genetic makers and new treatments.
One researcher is looking at less invasive ways to treat breast cancer. Another is studying the impact of air pollution on cancer. There is a study specifically on how best to serve patients with cancer who lives in rural areas. And there are more than 325 ongoing clinical trials.
In 2016, Beckerle was also one of 28 people tapped to serve on then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s panel as part of his “cancer moonshot” initiative to cure cancer.
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Vice President Joe Biden, center, speaks at a roundtable discussion with former Utah Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Chair of the Hunstsman Cancer Foundation, left, and Mary Beckerle, PhD, Huntsman Cancer Institute, right, after touring the Huntsman Cancer Center in Salt Lake City Friday, February 26.
Her list of state and national awards could fill pages.
Many joined in thanking Beckerle for her leadership, including Bob Carter, the recently named senior vice president for health sciences and U. Health CEO.
He said Beckerle is all about “tempo” — moving quickly to find cures “understanding that patients are urgently counting on each of us,” he said in a statement.
The next leader
Carter said he believes the next person for the job — Brad Cairns — will have the same pace as Beckerle.
Cairns, he said, will bring “steady leadership along with a commitment to the ‘tempo’ required to deliver rapid progress and advance Huntsman Cancer Institute’s mission at the University of Utah.”
Cairns is a distinguished cancer cell biologist who has been part of the Huntsman Cancer Institute’s leadership team for the past 15 years. He has overseen new partnerships between the institute and Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University to train more students.
He also is a professor of oncological sciences at the U. His research has focused on cancer epigenetics, or how the disease can be inherited without changing DNA. He graduated from Stanford University with a Ph.D. in cell biology.
(Huntsman Cancer Institute) Pictured is cancer cell biologist Brad Cairns, currently the head of academic affairs at Huntsman Cancer Institute, who will take over as CEO of the institute when Mary Beckerle steps down from the post in September 2025.
He said he is “honored” to step into the new leadership role. And the Huntsman Cancer Foundation also applauded the choice, too, as “bold and wise.”
Cairns said he looks forward to building on Beckerle’s legacy.
“We are poised,” he said, “to drive innovation focused on delivering health and healing to cancer patients here in the Mountain West and beyond.”