Sitta Sittampalam will join the Kansas University Cancer Center as its deputy director, KU announced Monday.

Sittampalam comes to KU after a career in the pharmaceutical industry, including 23 years at Eli Lilly and Co. KU hopes that bringing Sittampalam on board will help turn molecular biology discoveries into disease-fighting drugs.

KU has a goal of becoming the No. 1 academic generator of anti-cancer drugs, and officials said hiring Sittampalam would help to achieve that goal. The KU Cancer Center is based at KU Hospital and KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.