Events
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Monday, October 27, 2025
The Thomas C. Shea Clinical Cancer Symposium has nationally recognized physician-scientists both from UNC-CH and from other institutions present cutting edge, novel, and up-to-date information regarding the clinical care of patients with cancer. These annual events are open to faculty and health care professionals from medical schools in North Carolina, oncologists in the UNC Health Care System as well as oncologists throughout the Southeast.
This year’s event highlights Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Lymphoma. We will seek to educate both on current clinical standard of care and on the most promising new and emerging therapies likely to improve care over the next few years.
Course Director: Deborah Stephens, DO.
Join us for this live and in-person only event. CME will be available.
This annual event has been established to honor Thomas C. Shea MD, who retired from UNC School of Medicine and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center as the John Pope Distinguished Professor in Cancer Research. Dr. Shea is widely respected for his clinical and research contributions that have advanced the bone marrow transplant field.
Dr. Shea received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed his residency training in internal medicine and fellowship in hematology and oncology at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. He undertook additional training in bone marrow transplantation at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and was an instructor at Harvard Medical School before starting the bone marrow transplant program at the University of California at San Diego in 1988.
In 1992, he returned to UNC where he established the bone marrow and stem cell transplantation program. During his 27-year career he held multiple leadership posts at UNC, including medical director of the UNC Bone Marrow Transplant Program, principal investigator for the institution’s grant from CALGB and associate director for the UNC Lineberger Clinical Outreach Programs.
In addition to his service to UNC, Dr. Shea has held several important roles outside the University including as Chair of the Center for International Bone Marrow Transplant Research and significant involvement in the ALLIANCE Transplant and Leukemia Committees. He also served on multiple advisory boards for the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Dr. Shea has published extensively in the areas of bone marrow transplantation and the management of patients with hematologic malignancies.
Benefitting his role in holistically improved the care of patients with cancer Dr. Shea was pivotal to the generation of the SECU Family House and his work in these areas was recognized by his receipt of the Organ of the Longleaf Pine from Governor Roy Cooper.
Dr. Shea has been married for over 40 years to Dr. Katherine Shea and has two wonderful adult children. He stays busy in retirement by doing a little consulting, but mostly playing golf, taking care of a small country farm in Southwest Virginia, volunteering at the SECU Family House and UNC Hospitals, and participating in service projects with the East Chapel Hill Rotary Club.