J. Joshua Smith, M.D., Ph.D. is the Chair of the Colon and Rectal Surgery Department at MD Anderson Cancer
Center. He leads a department of ~50, comprised of faculty, fellows, APPs, nurses, and administrative staff. His
vision is for the department to be the premier colon and rectal surgery unit in the world as his team works to
eliminate colon, rectal, and anal cancer in Texas, the nation and around the world using state of the art surgical
and research techniques in a multidisciplinary setting while training, developing and mentoring the next
generation of leaders. As a surgeon and scientist, he seeks to uncover more precise treatments for each
individual rectal, colon, and anal cancer patient using novel surgical and research methods. He chairs multiple
national committees and international collaborations and serves as the Chair and PI for The Janus Rectal Cancer
Trial, an NCI-funded Phase II/III trial investigating nonoperative management and disease-free survival in
patients with rectal cancer through the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, SWOG and NRG Oncology
(NCT05610163). He is the PI of a growing, NCI-funded translational laboratory, where his team endeavors to
understand the molecular underpinnings of disease progression in patients with rectal cancer to develop
individualized disease models facilitating both effective research and precision treatment
