Dr. Martha Zeiger is the Director of Center for Cancer Research's Office of Surgeon-Scientist Career Development, Office of the Clinical Director. As Director, she leads a team studying and designing future pathways for the professional development of surgeon-scientists. Dr. Zeiger is an internationally renowned leader in endocrine surgery, an expert in the molecular aspects of thyroid cancer and an experienced academic leader. Her research interests focus on TERT gene expression regulation, molecular marker diagnostic panel development and molecular biological aspects of thyroid cancer development. She received her undergraduate degree from Brown University and her medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine. After serving in the United States Navy she completed her general surgical residency at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. Thereafter she worked as a commander and attending surgeon at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Zeiger then completed a Surgical Oncology Fellowship, focusing on endocrine surgery at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Maryland prior to joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. There, she built a busy endocrine surgery practice, established an endocrine surgery fellowship program, and directed an NIH-funded molecular biology laboratory for over 20 years.

While at John Hopkins, Dr. Zeiger took the lead as: Associate Dean for Postdoctoral Affairs; Professor of Surgery, Oncology, Cellular and Molecular Medicine; Associate Vice Chair of Surgery Faculty Development; and Medical Director of Business Development Strategic Alliance and Venture Technology. As Associate Dean for Postdoctoral Affairs, she oversaw 1200 research fellows in the School of Medicine. Dr. Zeiger has held numerous leadership positions in national medical societies: the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology, and the American Thyroid Association.  She founded Endocrine Surgery University, an annual course for all endocrine surgery fellows in North America. She has served as American Association of Endocrine Surgeons President and is currently President-elect of The American Thyroid Association. She recently held the position of S. Hurt Watts Professor and Chair of Surgery at the University of Virginia School of Medicine prior to joining The Surgical Oncology Program at NCI, NIH.