The Alliance Public Schools Foundation is proud to announce Dr. Colin D. Weekes, MD, PhD, as the 2024 Wall of Fame honoree.
Dr. Weekes currently serves as the Christopher Horner Chair in Pancreatic Cancer Research at Massachusetts General Hospital and Director of Medical Oncology Research for Pancreatic Cancer at the Tucker Gosnell Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers. He is also an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.
A 1988 graduate of Alliance High School, Dr. Weekes earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Nebraska Wesleyan University before attending the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), where he received his PhD with a focus on lymphoma biology. He also completed his medical degree at UNMC, where he met his wife, Elizabeth, a pharmacist. His time there was instrumental to his growth, both personally and professionally.
After completing his medical degree, Dr. Weekes pursued an internal medicine residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His experiences there shaped his commitment to advancing scientific solutions for diseases and ensuring healthcare equity. He went on to complete his medical oncology training at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he specialized in pancreatic cancer research and began working on novel drug therapies for the disease.
Following his fellowship, Dr. Weekes joined the University of Colorado, where he launched a research lab focused on pancreatic cancer and gained expertise in conducting first-in-human clinical trials of new cancer drugs.
In 2017, he accepted his current position at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, leading a team dedicated to developing new treatment strategies for all stages of pancreatic cancer. In addition to his work in clinical trials and research, Dr. Weekes is an advocate for equitable healthcare and serves as the Department of Medicine’s Equity Director in the Hematology/Oncology Division. He is now collaborating with the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Association for Cancer Research to bring equitable cancer care to underserved populations nationwide and globally.
Alliance Public Schools is honored to celebrate Dr. Weekes for his contributions to medicine and commitment to equitable healthcare. His achievements exemplify the impact APS graduates have made worldwide.
Congratulations, Dr. Colin D. Weekes!