Cancer agency chief asks to resign

AUSTIN (AP) — The executive director of a troubled $3 billion cancer-fighting effort in Texas has submitted his resignation letter amid escalating scrutiny over the management of the nation's second-biggest pot of cancer research dollars.

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas made Bill Gimson's resignation letter public on Tuesday. Gimson has led the state agency since it launched in 2009 but fell under mounting criticism over the recent disclosure that an $11 million award to a private company was never reviewed.

Gimson wrote that he had been "placed in a situation where I can no longer feel effective."

The agency's board must still approve his request to resign.

Only the National Institutes of Health doles out more cancer research dollars than CPRIT.