Charles Mulligan, M.D., Appointed Chair of Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program

July 18, 2023

Charles Mulligan, M.D., chief of thoracic surgery at ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute, has been named chair of the Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program (LCRP) for 2024-25. The LCRP is part of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) that manages research in a wide range of cancers and diseases.

According to the CDMRP website, the LCRP aims “to eradicate deaths and suffering from lung cancer to better the health and welfare of service members, veterans and the general public.” For the period 2009-2022, the LCRP awarded $195.5 million in grants, contracts and cooperative agreements that target lung cancer.

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“I am incredibly honored to be chosen to chair the Lung Cancer Research Program for the 2024-25 period,” said Mulligan.

“We have a great deal of work to do as lung cancer risk in our military is significant, with 24% to as high as 38% of service members smoking, compared to 14% of the general population. Deployments also worsen smoking rates by about 50%.

“We aim to address a broad range of unanswered research questions that are potentially critical to advancing prevention, detection, treatments and cures for lung cancer.”

Mulligan is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He earned his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina. He served as a staff cardiothoracic surgeon at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and was named chief of the thoracic surgery section and chair of the thoracic tumor board. Mulligan then served as chief of thoracic surgery with the 28th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq and as chief of general and thoracic surgery in Iraq. He retired from active duty in 2008 after completing over 21 years of service.

He originally joined ChristianaCare as a thoracic surgeon in 2008. In 2012 he was recruited to build the thoracic surgical oncology service at Centra Health and Pearson Cancer Center in Lynchburg, Virginia, which he completed before returning to ChristianaCare in 2014.

Since 1992, the CDMRP has managed approximately $7.7 billion in Congressional appropriations for peer-reviewed research aimed to prevent, control and cure disease. Through 2023, the CDMRP has made approximately 12,450 research awards to advance health care solutions.