The Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) Academic Office focuses on the success, wellness, and development of HCI-affiliated faculty. We facilitate academic partnerships (internal and external) and opportunities that positively impact faculty as well as associated trainees and staff. We support all phases of the faculty life cycle—from the hiring and onboarding process through career progression—in support of the HCI mission and vision statement: passionate individuals and teams delivering a cancer-free frontier through scientific discovery and human touch.
We facilitate faculty success and academic excellence in many areas, including hiring, retention, advancement, mentoring, and leadership development, with the intent to elevate the standard of academic excellence at HCI. We partner with the leadership of University of Utah departments and with other HCI executive offices in our efforts. Our vision is to enhance and expand our community of exceptional, innovative, and engaged faculty who make important and impactful contributions through individual and collaborative efforts to advance science-powered medicine. We aim to help develop the next generation of science leaders who value a culture of excellence, wellness, and collaboration within and beyond the institution to enhance HCI's reputation as a premier cancer center within a premier academic medical center.
Tools & Policies
The HCI Academic Office works closely with faculty members, administrative staff, and leadership across the University of Utah campus to provide resources for our faculty to thrive in their roles and clinicians, researchers, educators, mentors, leaders, and members of the university community.
Conflict Resolution
Related University Offices
Faculty Development
Effective mentoring relationships are critical to developing the next generation of researchers and clinicians. Our goal is to increase faculty integration, engagement, and retention; further professional development; and assist in creating successful mentor/mentee partnerships.
A signature initiative of the Academic Office is the HCI LEAD Program, which advances the leadership culture at HCI. Faculty development and mentoring resources for early-, mid-, and late-career faculty are below.
Late-Career Leadership
About the Office
Don Ayer, PhD
Don Ayer, PhD, joined the University of Utah’s Department of Oncological Sciences and the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) in 1995 as one of HCI’s first laboratory-based scientists. He earned his BS in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan in 1983 and completed his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder in 1989 under the mentorship of Dr. William Dynan. He then pursued postdoctoral training with Dr. Robert Eisenman at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
Dr. Ayer established a research program focused on understanding how cells sense and transcriptionally respond to nutrients—particularly glucose—and how these regulatory pathways are disrupted in cancer. A dedicated mentor, he has trained more than 25 postdoctoral fellows and PhD students. From 2015 to 2018, he served as Director of the University of Utah’s PhD Program in Molecular Biology and later became HCI’s inaugural Senior Director of Cancer Training and Career Enhancement.
He currently serves as Principal Investigator (PI) on several major training initiatives, including the Youth Enjoy Science (YES) R25 PathMaker Program, an NCI-funded grant that provides research experiences for rising high school seniors and early undergraduate students from the Mountain West region. He is also PI of the NCI-funded Genetics, Epigenetics, Models, and Signaling (GEMS) T32 training program, which supports PhD students across the University of Utah and HCI, as well as the Huntsman Cancer Institute Post-Baccalaureate Program in Cancer Research funded by the American Cancer Society. In recognition of his exceptional mentorship, Dr. Ayer received the University of Utah Distinguished Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Mentor Award in 2022.
In addition to his dedication to trainee development, Dr. Ayer is deeply committed to supporting faculty advancement. He served as Interim Chair of the Department of Oncological Sciences in 2011 and has been the Department’s Director of Faculty Affairs since 2012. In this role, he oversees all faculty appointment, promotion, retention, and tenure actions, as well as annual reviews. He also provides mentorship and career guidance to early-stage faculty. At HCI, Dr. Ayer serves as PI on an American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant that offers pilot funding for early-stage investigators pursuing cancer-related research across campus.
Dori Knight
Dori Knight is the Senior Academic Manager at the Huntsman Cancer Institute’s Academic Office and Talent Office, where she oversees strategic faculty recruitment in collaboration with more than 35 partnering divisions, departments, schools, and colleges. She advises institutional leaders on faculty and academic affairs, helping shape HCI’s academic strategy and talent landscape. Dori first joined the University of Utah in 2007 and has since held roles across University of Utah Hospital, UHealth, and the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine before bringing her extensive experience to HCI in 2022.