Little Rock hospital hires cancer institute chief

The outgoing director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences has accepted a job at CHI St. Vincent.

Dr. Peter Emanuel turned in his resignation letter on May 4. His last day at UAMS is Tuesday.

Emanuel, 59, will join CHI St. Vincent on Sept. 1, according to a statement from the hospital. His position was not specified.

At the time of his resignation, he declined to give the reason for his departure, only citing unspecified challenges. He could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

UAMS is conducting a national search for a new cancer institute director, said Leslie Taylor, vice chancellor of communications and marketing. Dr. Laura Hutchins was appointed interim director in June. Hutchins is a professor in the College of Medicine Division of Hematology/ Oncology, where she was division director from 1998 until September 2013.

Emanuel is a widely recognized expert in leukemia and lymphoma, a UAMS website states. He joined UAMS in 2007 after leaving the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he was a professor of medicine, genetics and biochemistry.

From 2004 to 2006 he was the acting director of the National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Alabama university.

During his time at UAMS, he oversaw the addition of the cancer institute’s 12-story research and treatment tower, which opened in 2010. His annual salary was $500,000.