Advisory Committee

Tammara Watts, MD, PhD, serves as an Associate Professor of Head and Neck Surgery and Communication Sciences at the Duke Cancer Network in Durham, North Carolina. In July 2022, Dr. Watts was appointed the Associate Director for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) for the Duke Cancer Institute (DCI). In this inaugural position for the DCI, Dr. Watts oversees creation of the plan to enhance diversity which includes development and implementation of an EDI strategic plan in the DCI that is in alignment with the Duke School of Medicine and the Duke University Health System’s larger EDI/DEI vision.

Dr. Watts’ research focuses on understanding the role tumor microenvironment mesenchymal stromal cells play in mediating treatment resistance and cancer recurrence. She has received numerous grants in this space and recently  has begun studies related to racial disparities in head and neck cancer, including pilot funding from the DCI and NRG Oncology examining gene expression changes between Black and White patients with human papilloma virus positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Nationally, Dr. Watts has served as member of the Women in Surgery Committee for the American College of Surgeons for seven years and has been the Chair of the Mentorship subcommittee for the last 2 years.

Dr. Watts earned a medical degree from the University of Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland, and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.