Bassel El-Rayes, M.D.

Deputy Director

Bassel F. El-Rayes, M.D., is the deputy director of the UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, a senior scientist at the O’Neal Cancer Center, a professor of Medicine and the director of the Division of Hematology & Oncology in the UAB Department of Medicine.

El-Rayes is focused translational research and drug development in gastrointestinal cancer with special emphasis on pancreatobiliary and neuroendocrine cancers. El-Rayes has served as principal investigator on several peer-reviewed NCI grants, investigator-initiated trials and multi-institutional trials. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles.  He has served on several national committees, including the NCI Neuroendocrine Tumor Task Force and the National Committee of the American Society of Clinical Oncology for the development of guidelines for the management of central venous catheters in patients with cancer.

El-Rayes completed medical school at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. He subsequently joined the internal medicine residency and then fellowship program at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. After completing his fellowship, El-Rayes joined the faculty at Wayne State University as an assistant professor. During his tenure at Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, Michigan, El-Rayes chaired the Data and Safety Monitoring Committee and was the medical director of the outpatient clinic. 

El-Rayes joined Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in 2009. During this time, El-Rayes served as director of GI oncology program, associate director for clinical research at Winship Cancer Institute and vice chair for clinical research. El-Rayes is a Georgia Cancer Coalition University of Georgia Distinguished Clinical Scholar. In 2016, he was appointed the John Kaufmann Family Professor for Pancreatic Research.