Otis Brawley

Otis Brawley, MD is a globally-recognized expert in cancer prevention and control and a professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. As the 39th Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins, he leads a broad interdisciplinary research effort of cancer health disparities at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, working to close racial, economic and social disparities in the prevention, detection and treatment of cancer in the United States and worldwide. He also directs community outreach programs for underserved populations throughout Maryland.

Dr. Brawley’s research focuses on developing cancer screening strategies and ensuring their effectiveness. He has championed efforts to decrease smoking and implement other lifestyle risk reduction programs, as well as to provide critical support to cancer patients and concentrate cancer control efforts in areas where they could be most effective.

Dr. Brawley joined Johns Hopkins University from the American Cancer Society, where he was Chief Medical and Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President. Prior to that, he was a professor of oncology and hematology and deputy director for cancer control at the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University in Atlanta.

Dr. Brawley is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. He received the Martin D. Abeloff Award for Excellence in Public Health and Cancer Control from the Maryland State Council of Cancer Control. The award, named after the former director of the Kimmel Cancer Center, was established to recognize advancements made in cancer control practices that influenced the field of public health on a statewide, national or global scale.

A graduate of the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine, Dr. Brawley completed an internal medicine residency at University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case-Western Reserve University and a fellowship in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute.