Directing the only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center in Colorado is a big job with big goals: Developing new ways to overcome cancer. Providing world-class care and bringing the latest breakthrough treatments to patients. Training the next generation of cancer healers and researchers. Delivering messages of prevention and screening across Colorado. And much more.
Going forward, that mission will rest on the shoulders of medical oncologist Wells Messersmith, MD, FACP, FASCO. Effective October 1, Messersmith—an internationally renowned physician-scientist and academic leader in gastrointestinal oncology—will become the fourth permanent director of the University of Colorado Anschutz Cancer Center in its 41-year history.
“As a physician, I’ve seen the profound toll cancer takes on patients and their families,” Messersmith says. “As a researcher, I’ve also witnessed the extraordinary power of scientific discovery and clinical research to produce new treatments, extend lives, and deliver cures. Our cancer center has played a major role in the fight against cancer for more than 40 years, and we are poised to have even greater success in the future. Our impact will be broad and transformative.”
Messersmith, a faculty member at the CU Anschutz School of Medicine since 2007, has been head of the Department of Medicine’s Division of Medical Oncology since 2015 and will step aside from that role. He is the CU Anschutz Cancer Center’s associate director for clinical services and in 2022 was named chief medical officer of oncology services at UCHealth, one of the cancer center’s clinical partners. In 2025, he was named the inaugural holder of the Emily Coe Atherton Endowed Chair in Pancreatic Cancer Research at CU Anschutz.
John Sampson, MD, PhD, MBA, CU Anschutz vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the school of medicine, says Messersmith was the right choice for the job from among many “very talented candidates.”
“When I came to CU Anschutz, I did so to work on behalf of people who are deeply committed to combining scientific rigor with compassion and discovery with patient care. Dr. Messersmith is the epitome of that belief,” Sampson says. “His work reflects the very best of what we strive to do at CU Anschutz: advance science, care for patients with empathy and purpose, and lead in ways that bring others along.”
Sampson praises Messersmith’s work in personalized therapies and drug discovery for gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. “His approach—matching the right treatment to the right patient—reflects where the future of cancer care must go,” Sampson adds.
“Dr. Messersmith has been integral to the growth and strength of our cancer programs over nearly two decades at CU Anschutz,” says CU Anschutz Chancellor Don Elliman. “He is an exceptional physician-scientist, a trusted colleague and a leader deeply committed to his patients. I can think of no one better prepared to build on the CU Anschutz Cancer Center’s remarkable momentum and lead it into its next chapter.”
Elizabeth B. Concordia, president and CEO of UCHealth, says she is excited to see Messersmith lead the cancer center’s investigators and specialists as they continue their fight against cancer by expanding the reach of advanced treatments.
“UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and our locations in northern and southern Colorado already offer many clinical trials that are sponsored by CU faculty, and this is directly improving the lives of our patients. This partnership will continue to grow with Dr. Messersmith’s leadership," she says.
→ CU Anschutz Cancer Center: 40 Years of Preventing and Conquering Cancer
Wells Messersmith, MD, speaking to Colorado state legislators at a CU Anschutz Cancer Center forum in 2024.
Messersmith is acutely aware of the CU Anschutz Cancer Center’s role in a region where institutions of its status are few and far between.
“I grew up on the East Coast, where you have several cancer centers that are practically next door to each other and there isn’t much of a rural population,” he says. “Here, we’re more than 370 miles to the next comprehensive cancer center. We serve a large area, and much of it is rural. In addition to Colorado, we see a lot of patients from Wyoming, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Kansas who are far from any other comprehensive cancer center. We don’t have the luxury of being good at some things and not others because there’s another center down the street to fill the gap. On a clinical level, we have to be able to take care of any oncology problem.”
Messersmith cites a sobering set of statistics: “In the next hour, one Coloradan will die of cancer on average—more than 8,700 deaths a year in our state,” he says. “I’ve been working here for 19 years. These patients are my neighbors, my colleagues, and my family. We need to ensure we have strong science and clinical trial opportunities here so patients have access to them. I want to ensure that Colorado patients don’t have to get into an airplane to get access to the most promising treatments.”
Messersmith, who grew up in Washington, D.C., was an undergrad at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, majoring in biology, when he heard the call of medicine.
“I thought I was going to be a PhD in biology or biochemistry,” he says. “I just happened to take enough courses to qualify for medical school, and I said, ‘I'll just take the MCAT entrance exam to keep my options open.’ I shadowed various doctors during my undergraduate years and decided that I loved the intersection between science and taking care of people, so I chose medical school.”
After graduating summa cum laude from Williams, Messersmith spent two years working overseas, including a stint at an international relations think tank in Paris and a position as a teacher in Zurich. He then entered Harvard Medical School, doing a two-month rotation at clinics in a remote part of Guatemala where malnourishment was common.
Messersmith earned his MD in 1998 from Harvard, where he participated in immunology basic research as a medical student, followed by an internship and internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“I had applied to a fellowship in general medicine, but then I did a rotation in GI cancer when I was a medicine resident, and I just fell in love with it,” he says. “I love the multidisciplinary aspects and the impact you have on people’s lives. An oncologist is really a primary care doctor, but for a cancer patient. You're responsible for everything; you're not just focused on one organ or problem. And you’re alongside someone during some of the toughest things they’ll go through. It’s often challenging, but I also find it really rewarding.”
Messersmith went to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for a fellowship in medical oncology and drug development. There he received the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) Young Investigator Award and the Passano Clinician-Scientist Award. He remained at Johns Hopkins as assistant professor in its GI Oncology and Drug Development programs from 2004 to 2007.
Wells Messersmith, MD, rappelling off a building at the Over the Edge event for Cancer League of Colorado to raise money for cancer research.
Messersmith was recruited to the CU Anschutz Cancer Center in 2007. “I came here because I loved the idea of trying to build a program,” he says. “Back in 2007, there wasn’t much of a specialized GI cancer program in medical oncology. I was recruited out here to build one, and it’s been amazing to see how it has grown. Together with multiple other specialties, we were able to create multidisciplinary clinics and increase our efforts in clinical trials and patient options.”
Since Messersmith’s arrival, the GI cancer program’s new-patient volumes have increased 17-fold. He also worked to establish an extensive collection of laboratory models derived from cancer patients, which allowed the GI cancer team to develop multiple novel combination therapy and biomarker-driven clinical trials. Several of these studies were developed in concert with the NCI’s Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, industry partners, and other academic centers.
After Messersmith arrived in Colorado, his brother was diagnosed with leukemia. “Having a family member go through a bone marrow transplant really teaches you what the experience is like on the other side,” he says. “That got me even more interested in what the patient and their family go through and the challenges they deal with. Fortunately, my brother was cured, but it was a long, difficult road for him. I think that made me a more empathetic physician, because you see what it’s like for the patient and family.”
Messersmith has served as principal investigator of nearly 90 clinical trials, including more than 25 first-in-human studies. He has published more than 230 peer-reviewed articles in the fields of drug development, immunotherapy, and GI cancers, with an emphasis on biomarkers and personalized medicine.
He is the national director of the Academic GI Cancer Consortium (AGICC), representing top investigators at the nation’s most prestigious institutions in the field. He serves on numerous national committees at cancer organizations and has received many professional awards from ASCO, NCI, and others.
“Because of my research emphasis, I always have a sense of optimism and hope,” Messersmith says. “You can see what’s coming down the pike with new advances in detection and treatment. There have been such exciting changes in cancer care. It helps keep you balanced, so that you can keep that empathy and that compassion with patient care.”
Wells Messersmith, MD, with fellow CU Anschutz Cancer Center medical oncologists Christopher Lieu, MD, and Virginia Borges, MD, as they were inducted into the inaugural class of the CU Anschutz Department of Medicine's Clinical Excellence Society in 2024.
In speaking about his leadership style, Messersmith describes himself as a “coordinator-supporter, trying to work with colleagues, support them, and treat everyone with respect. Success of the team is my personal success.” He emphasizes building self-sustaining programs “where if I don’t show up for work, they just keep going.” He sees a team science approach as critical to new discoveries. And he talks of recruiting and training top talent while also providing recruits with the resources they need to succeed.
An immediate task facing Messersmith is the CU Anschutz Cancer Center’s application for a five-year renewal of its NCI cancer center support grant, which he plans to steer across the finish line by the January 2027 deadline. The multimillion-dollar grant provides critical federal support for the cancer center’s core operational infrastructure.
As director, Messersmith says he will strive to expand capacity for clinical trials at the cancer center and make trials happen faster. He plans to emphasize discovery and development of homegrown cancer therapies (both treatment and preventive) and screening modalities. He wants to build interdisciplinary research efforts, invest in shared resources for investigators, and facilitate collaboration with industry and other academic centers.
On his watch, the cancer center will redouble its commitment to education and training to create the next generation of researchers focused on basic, clinical, and population science, he says. And by supporting the cancer center’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement, he will help expand the cancer center’s reach across Colorado in partnership with UCHealth, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and community stakeholders.
It sounds like a daunting burden, but Messersmith says he’s ready to take it on.
“I feel like I have the right experience, and my deep institutional knowledge is going to be very helpful,” he says. “I also feel like I’m at the right place in terms of our culture, which is very collaborative, very selfless, and with people who are very accomplished. This feels like the right time.”