Neil Hayes, MD, MS, MPH is Chief of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center Hematology/Oncology Division, where he oversees precision cancer medicine in Regional One Health’s medical oncology and hematology practice.

Board-certified in medical oncology, he specializes in lung and head and neck tumors, also known as head and neck cancer. Aerodigestive tumors form in the nasal and oral cavity, larynx, salivary glands and other sites in the airways of the head and neck.

Dr. Hayes earned his medical degree at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He also has a Master of Science degree in Clinical Care Research from Tufts New England Medical Center and a Master of Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Hayes did his residency in internal medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, then remained in Boston to complete a fellowship in hematology/oncology at Tufts New England Medical Center.

After University of North Carolina Medical School, Dr. Hayes relocated to Memphis to help establish a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer treatment center.

As UTHSC Assistant Dean for Cancer Research and Director of the Center for Cancer Research, Dr. Hayes is on the cutting edge of cancer research and treatment.

The Hayes Research Lab, at UTHSC, strives to bridge multidisciplinary clinical cancer care, clinical trials, translational cancer research and model systems of cancer with a focus on aerodigestive tumors.

Dr. Hayes is also the Van Vleet Endowed Professor in Medical Oncology at the UTHSC College of Medicine, with appointments in the Department of Medicine; Department of Genetics, Genomics, and Informatics; and Department of Preventive Medicine.

Dr. Hayes has received numerous awards during his career for excellence in cancer research and treatment. He was honored by the American Association for Cancer Research for contributions to developing The Cancer Genome Atlas and as a Memphis Business Journal Health Care Hero.

He is an author, with over 200 peer-reviewed publications in medical journals including Cell, Science, Nature, and the New England Journal of Medicine and The Journal of Pathology. Dr. Hayes holds several patents related to methods for head and neck cancer prognosis, brain metastasis from non-small-cell lung cancer, and molecular diagnosis and typing of lung cancer variants.

Dr. Hayes is a member of professional organizations including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Association of Cancer Researchers and NRG Oncology.