Detroit – – October 06, 2026 -- The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute has appointed Stefan C. Grant, M.D., to a newly created role as associate center director and medical director of the Karmanos Cancer Network, giving the oncologist oversight of clinical trial access across 13 McLaren Health Care sites outside metro Detroit. Dr. Grant began the position in September, adding the titles of vice chair of clinical operations and co-leader of the Thoracic Oncology Multidisciplinary Team.
New role targets trial access gap across 13 Michigan sites
The associate center director position did not previously exist at Karmanos. Dr. Grant will work with oncology teams at McLaren's network locations to expand clinical trial availability for patients who currently must travel to Detroit, according to Boris Pasche, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of Karmanos.
He also assumes medical director duties for the Karmanos Cancer Network, overseeing medical oncology services, program development, compliance and medical informatics across McLaren facilities, working alongside Brian Gamble, president of the Cancer Network, and Doris Ranski-Zazula, vice president of the Cancer Network.
Grant brings NCI-designation experience from four prior academic centers
Dr. Grant joins Karmanos after serving as co-director of the Louisiana Cancer Research Center in New Orleans. He previously directed the Tulane Cancer Center and chaired its Division of Hematology Oncology as a tenured professor holding the Edward G. Schlieder Chair in Medical Oncology.
Earlier appointments include associate director roles for Clinical and Translational Research at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, as well as positions at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Grant has held leadership roles supporting NCI comprehensive cancer center designation renewals at multiple institutions.
Thoracic oncology specialist to co-lead lung cancer multidisciplinary team
As a thoracic medical oncologist, Dr. Grant treats non-small cell and small cell lung cancer, pleural mesotheliomas and pulmonary carcinoids. He co-leads Karmanos' Thoracic Oncology MDT with cardiothoracic surgeon David Sternberg, M.D., and sits on the Phase I Clinical Trials MDT.
His research focuses on immunologic approaches to lung cancer treatment, targeted therapies and pragmatic clinical trial design. Dr. Grant serves on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network's Clinical Practice Guidelines panel for non-small cell lung cancer, small-cell lung cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma, and thymoma and thymic carcinomas, and is an editorial reviewer for JAMA and JAMA Network Open.
Dr. Grant holds a medical degree from the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School in Johannesburg, a Juris Doctor from Fordham University School of Law, and an MBA from the Collat School of Business at UAB. He completed his medical oncology and hematology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center following a residency at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. He will see patients at Karmanos Cancer Center in Detroit and the Weisberg Cancer Center in Farmington Hills.