Biography
Dr. Okimoto is a medical oncologist who specializes in the treatment of sarcomas and lung cancer. He is a laboratory based physician-scientist who broadly aims to translate basic science discoveries into novel therapies for patients with cancer. He is currently interested in understanding how cancer cells gain transcriptional dependence to drive tumor progression and metastasis.
Awards & Honors
Award | Conferred By | Date |
---|---|---|
Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award Finalist | 2021 | |
National Cancer Institute R37 MERIT Award | 2021 | |
American Society of Clinical Investigation Young Physician-Scientist Award | 2019 | |
NIH-NCI Career Development Award (K08) | 2018 | |
UCSF DOM Cohort Iniative Award | 2018 | |
A.P. Giannini Postdoctoral Fellowship | 2015 |
Education
Education
Creighton University School of Medicine 2009
Residencies
Tufts Medical Center, Internal Medicine 2012
Fellowships
UCSF Medical Center, Medical Oncology 2014
Board Certifications
American Board of Internal Medicine
American Board of Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology
Clinical Expertise
Pulmonary Metastases
Soft Tissue Sarcoma
Bone Sarcoma
Grants and Funding
- Therapeutic degradation of Capicua (CIC) fused oncoproteins in undifferentiated sarcomas | NIH | 2021-06-17 - 2026-05-31 | Role: Principal Investigator
- Therapeutic rescue of the transcriptional repressor Capicua to inhibit lung cancer metastasis | NIH | 2018-02-01 - 2023-01-31 | Role: Principal Investigator
Research Narrative
A physician-scientist, Okimoto conducts research in addition to providing clinical care. The overall goal of his laboratory-based investigations is to help improve outcomes for cancer patients. His current research work focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that promote tumor cell metastasis.
Publications
MOST RECENT PUBLICATIONS FROM A TOTAL OF 38
- Mapping chromatin state and transcriptional response in CIC-DUX4 undifferentiated round cell sarcoma.| | View in PubMed
- The CIC-ERF co-deletion underlies fusion-independent activation of ETS family member, ETV1, to drive prostate cancer progression.| | View in PubMed
- Capicua suppresses YAP1 to limit tumorigenesis and maintain drug sensitivity in human cancer.| | View in PubMed
- Primary and metastatic tumors exhibit systems-level differences in dependence on mitochondrial respiratory function.| | View in PubMed
- Deficiency of the splicing factor RBM10 limits EGFR inhibitor response in EGFR-mutant lung cancer.| | View in PubMed
- Clinical genomic profiling in the management of patients with soft tissue and bone sarcoma.| | View in PubMed
- WEE1 kinase is a therapeutic vulnerability in CIC-DUX4 undifferentiated sarcoma.| | View in PubMed
- Tumor morphology and location associate with immune cell composition in pleomorphic sarcoma.| | View in PubMed
- Single-cell lineages reveal the rates, routes, and drivers of metastasis in cancer xenografts.| | View in PubMed
- Functional screening identifies aryl hydrocarbon receptor as suppressor of lung cancer metastasis.| | View in PubMed
- Capicua in Human Cancer.| | View in PubMed
- Negative MAPK-ERK regulation sustains CIC-DUX4 oncoprotein expression in undifferentiated sarcoma.| | View in PubMed
- CIC-DUX4 oncoprotein drives sarcoma metastasis and tumorigenesis via distinct regulatory programs.| | View in PubMed
- Nuclear TARBP2 Drives Oncogenic Dysregulation of RNA Splicing and Decay.| | View in PubMed
- Metastasis: From head to tail.| | View in PubMed
- Inactivation of Capicua drives cancer metastasis.| | View in PubMed
- Preclinical efficacy of a RAF inhibitor that evades paradoxical MAPK pathway activation in protein kinase BRAF-mutant lung cancer.| | View in PubMed
- An improved CTC isolation scheme for pairing with downstream genomics: Demonstrating clinical utility in metastatic prostate, lung and pancreatic cancer.| | View in PubMed
- Tracking Down Response and Resistance to TRK Inhibitors.| | View in PubMed
- RAS-MAPK dependence underlies a rational polytherapy strategy in EML4-ALK-positive lung cancer.| | View in PubMed
- AXL receptor tyrosine kinase as a therapeutic target in NSCLC.| | View in PubMed
- 77-year-old woman with a dural-based mass. Marginal zone B-cell lymphoma (MZBCL).| | View in PubMed
- Recent advances in personalized lung cancer medicine.| | View in PubMed
- Navigating the road toward optimal initial therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia.| | View in PubMed
- Mutations in the neutral sphingomyelinase gene SMPD3 implicate the ceramide pathway in human leukemias.| | View in PubMed
- Regulation of expression of BIK proapoptotic protein in human breast cancer cells: p53-dependent induction of BIK mRNA by fulvestrant and proteasomal degradation of BIK protein.| | View in PubMed
- Epidermal growth factor receptor kinase domain mutations in esophageal and pancreatic adenocarcinomas.| | View in PubMed
- Frequent met oncogene amplification in a Brca1/Trp53 mouse model of mammary tumorigenesis.| | View in PubMed
- Amplification of MET may identify a subset of cancers with extreme sensitivity to the selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor PHA-665752.| | View in PubMed
- American founder mutation for Lynch syndrome. Prevalence estimates and implications.| | View in PubMed
- Response of some head and neck cancers to epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors may be linked to mutation of ERBB2 rather than EGFR.| | View in PubMed
- Inherited susceptibility to lung cancer may be associated with the T790M drug resistance mutation in EGFR.| | View in PubMed
- Epidermal growth factor receptor mutations and gene amplification in non-small-cell lung cancer: molecular analysis of the IDEAL/INTACT gefitinib trials.| | View in PubMed
- Irreversible inhibitors of the EGF receptor may circumvent acquired resistance to gefitinib.| | View in PubMed
- Activating mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor underlying responsiveness of non-small-cell lung cancer to gefitinib.| | View in PubMed
- A founder mutation of the MSH2 gene and hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer in the United States.| | View in PubMed
- Molecular analysis of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer in the United States: high mutation detection rate among clinically selected families and characterization of an American founder genomic deletion of the MSH2 gene.| | View in PubMed
- Mytilus mitochondrial DNA contains a functional gene for a tRNASer(UCN) with a dihydrouridine arm-replacement loop and a pseudo-tRNASer(UCN) gene.| | View in PubMed