Charles J. Link, MD, FACP, was appointed by John Glenn to the United States Airforce Academy. After the academy, he was accepted to Stanford University of Medicine, from which he graduated with Research Honors. He completed fellowship training in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute.
Link was an attending physician at the National Cancer Institute before coming to Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. Since 1996 he has served as the director of the Human Gene Therapy Research Institute, which is part of the John Stoddard Cancer Center, located at Iowa Methodist Medical Center.
Link has authored more than 170 scientific articles and abstracts. He has received more than $2 million in funding for his research from organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, U.S. Army Breast Cancer, and Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. He currently serves as the chairman of NewLinks Genetics Corporation, a biotechnology development company.