Leadership
Rodney P. Rocconi, MD
Ergon Chair for Cancer Research and Director of the UMMC Cancer Center and Research Institute
Dr. Rodney P. Rocconi serves as director of the Cancer Center and Research Institute and is the Ergon Chair for Cancer Research and a professor of gynecologic oncology at UMMC.
Rocconi, a native Mississippian, is a biological sciences graduate of the University of Mississippi who earned his MD at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at UAB as well as a fellowship in gynecologic oncology.
He then served in various leadership roles, including chief of gynecologic oncology, associate director of clinical trials, Elsie Cole Chair of Oncology Research and interim director, at Mitchell Cancer Institute at the University of South Alabama in Mobile.
At UMMC, his focus is on advancing cancer care and research at UMMC and leading the Medical Center’s quest for a new cancer center and National Cancer Institute designation.
His research focuses on the genetic and molecular determinants of racial health care disparities in gynecologic malignancies and the molecular mechanisms of chemoresistance in ovarian cancer. He has been the recipient of funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, Department of Defense, PCORI and multiple foundations. Rocconi’s work has been recognized through prestigious awards, including the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation Ovarian Cancer Research Award, the Gynecologic Oncology Group Young Investigator Research Award and appointment as an invited Associate Member of the NCI Early Detection Research Network.
His research career is distinguished by several pioneering contributions. He was the first to correlate ancestry genetic admixture with endometrial cancer prognosis, providing novel insight into how genetic heritage contributes to cancer disparities. He also identified specific cancer stem cell gene expression patterns linked to self-designated race, which may represent new opportunities for targeted therapies for ovarian cancer. As principal investigator of an NIH R01 grant, he was the first to demonstrate the ability to determine — with over 90% accuracy — whether a pelvic mass was benign or ovarian cancer using a proteomic test derived from cervico-vaginal swabs. Importantly, the majority of cancers were diagnosed at early stage I or II. This led to seven patents for novel methods in early ovarian cancer detection.
Rocconi has served as principal investigator in more than 80 clinical trials, including numerous early-phase, investigator-initiated studies. His translational and clinical trial efforts are highlighted by a series of ovarian cancer immunotherapy trials using gemogenovatucel-T (Vigil), a novel autologous tumor cell-directed therapy genetically engineered to enhance immune recognition and block tumor-promoting pathways. His biomarker research for Vigil identified a significant survival benefit in patients with homologous recombination proficient tumors — a population with an urgent unmet need where standard therapy has remained unchanged for decades.
Further work uncovered a novel prognostic biomarker and defined clonal tumor mutational burden (cTMB) as the strongest predictive marker for long-term survival in this setting. These results contributed to the FDA granting Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation to Vigil as a personalized immunotherapy for HRP, high-cTMB ovarian cancer patients in the maintenance setting.
Collectively, these experiences have allowed Rocconi to serve on numerous national leadership roles in the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO), NRG Oncology Cooperative Group, National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), as well as to chair multiple Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Research Program sections. In recognition of his accomplishments in oncology, he was selected to participate in the ASCO Leadership Development Program.
Rocconi and his wife, Courtenay, who met as Ole Miss undergraduates, are the parents of Ty, a 2021 Ole Miss graduate and three‑year football letterman who now coaches defensive backs at Purdue University; Isabella, who plans to attend the UMMC School of Nursing after graduating from Ole Miss; and Olivia, an elementary education major at Ole Miss.