I am a laboratory-based physician-scientist and an academic medical oncologist with a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology. Clinical experiences inspire my laboratory investigations and provide opportunities to translate scientific discoveries aimed at improving the personalized treatment of cancer patients.  The goal of my research program is to define the molecular pathogenesis of human cancers through both basic and translational studies with a particular focus on lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer mortality in the United States.

Our aim is to discover tumor-cell specific vulnerabilities that can be therapeutically exploited as novel treatment strategies to improve the survival of patients with lung, and potentially, other cancers.  To accomplish our goals, we have a developed an integrated approach to define the molecular mechanisms by which oncogenes drive the growth of human lung cancers and by which tumors evade oncogene-targeted treatments.

Our approach leverages state-of-the-art functional genomics RNA interference screening methodologies, highly relevant preclinical models of lung cancer that accurately represent human lung cancer, and prospectively acquired human lung cancer specimens and clinical data.  Using this approach we recently identified several novel mechanisms of resistance to EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) inhibitors in lung cancers with activating (oncogenic) mutations in EGFR. Our work has defined new rational companion therapeutic targets that when inhibited may enhance responses to EGFR inhibitors in lung cancer patients

The studies proposed in this project build upon our prior research because they will allow us to further define molecular determinants of oncogene dependence in human lung cancers. Moreover, we are uniquely positioned to translate our findings into lung cancer patients through validation of our findings in human lung cancer specimens and, subsequently, hypothesis-driven clinical trials in lung cancer patients.