My academic career has been devoted to applying novel insights from fundamental molecular biological and biochemical research to the problems of human cancer.  The overall aim has been to develop mechanistically targeted anti-cancer therapeutics with sufficiently powerful and reliable efficacy data in our academic environment that collaborative work with biopharma and public sector resources would be more efficiently mobilized to bring new therapies to patients worldwide.

Our research program focuses heavily on translational and clinical science that will accelerate the development of novel experimental therapeutic agents targeting specific signaling pathways in molecularly defined subtypes of cancer, with a major focus on mesenchymal neoplasms and sarcomas.

The most noteworthy successes of our program’s contributions have changed the standards of care for patients with sarcomas and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), leading to the FDA and worldwide regulatory approval of imatinib (Gleevec™ in 2002), sunitinib (Sutent™ in 2006), regorafenib (Stivarga™ in 2013), avapritinib (Ayvakit™ in 2020), and ripretinib (Qinlock™ in 2020) for GIST.  For other sarcomas, this list includes trabectedin (Yondelis™ ex-USA in 2007 and US approval in 2015), pazopanib (Votrient™ in 2012), and tazemetostat (Tazverik™ in 2020) for other sarcomas. The academic insights that we have developed in sarcomas are also highly relevant to translational and clinical investigation in many other types of cancer, from ultra-rare to common neoplasma.  Our clinical and research program has expanded across Harvard University and many other collaborating centers worldwide to build long-term research strategies that target cancers based on genomic, epigenetic, metabolomic and immunobiologic criteria of vulnerability based on defined molecular mechanisms.

In addition to serving as the co-Director of the Ludwig Center at Harvard, I also serve as the Director of the Bertarelli Rare Cancer Initiative at Harvard, as well as the Director of the David Liposarcoma Research Initiative based at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Through these roles, I am able to link basic, translational and clinical research initiatives across multiple departments and diverse institutions across the world to advance fundamental research and the development of new therapeutics throughout the Ludwig Cancer Research community and many other settings.