The Cancer Therapeutics Program brings together clinical investigators who work together with basic and translational scientists to advance promising therapeutic options to patients in clinical trials. Program meetings are held every two weeks throughout the year. There is a robust portfolio of early phase clinical trials led by investigators through the Brown University Oncology Group (BrUOG), Lifespan Cancer Institute and Women's and Infants Hospital. The Program has depth of expertise in disease-based adult and pediatric oncology, pathology, and clinical investigations. The early phase experimental therapeutics effort has a strong focus on cell death pathways and immunotherapy.

Program members interact with the Cancer Biology Program to bring forward novel biomarkers as well as therapeutics into early phase clinical trials. Efforts to translate novel concepts are supported by the Translational Research Disease Groups (TRDGs), which are additional cancer disease-based group meetings that occur in parallel to the Cancer Therapeutics Program Meetings. Each of the 11 disease-based TRDGs meets every 2-3 months, with emerging projects being presented at the Cancer Therapeutics Program meetings.

  • Benedito Carneiro
    Benedito Carneiro, MD

    Group Leader (Cancer Therapeutics); TRDG Leader (GU Cancer); Director, Phase I Clinical Research Program, Cell death targeted therapeutics, Immunotherapy

  • Howard Safran, MD

    Group Leader (Cancer Therapeutics); TRDG Leader and Facilitator, Medical Director, BrUOG, Chief, Hematology/Oncology, Brown and Lifespan, GI and brain cancer therapeutics, Experimental therapeutics

Group Members

Stephanie Graff, MD

Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Lifespan Cancer Institute, and co-leader of the Breast Cancer Translational Research Disease Group.

Angela Tata, BS

Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, & Biochemistry Graduate Program

Shougang Zhuang, MD, PhD

Professor of Medicine (Research)

Ting Zhao, MD

Associate Professor of Surgery

Aaron Maxwell, MD

Assistant Professor of Diagnostic Imaging and Director of Interventional Oncology

Christopher Azzoli
Christopher Azzoli, MD

TRDG Leader (Thoracic Malignancies), Director, Thoracic Oncology

Peter Barth
Peter Barth, MD

Hematology Oncology

Ari Birnbaum
Ari Birnbaum, MD

TRDG Leader (Head and Neck Cancer), Head and Neck cancer, Lung cancer

Rimini Breakstone
Rimini Breakstone, MD

GI cancer, Quality improvement

Andre De Souza
Andre De Souza, MD

TRDG Member (GU Cancer); GU Oncology

Bradley DeNardo
Bradley DeNardo, MD

TRDG Leader (Sarcoma); Neuroblastoma, Neurotoxicity

Tom DiPetrillo
Tom DiPetrillo, MD

TRDG Leader (Thoracic Malignancies and GU Cancer); Radiation Oncology, IMRT, HDR, Brachytherapy

Paul DiSilvestro, MD

Co-Chair, NRG, Breast, ovarian cancer

Don Dizon
Don Dizon, MD

TRDG Leader (GYN Cancers), Director, Women’s Cancers, Lifespan, GYN cancer therapeutics

Wafik El-Deiry
Wafik El-Deiry, MD, PhD, FACP

Director, Joint Program in Cancer Biology; TRDG Leader and Facilitator, Drug Discovery, Signaling, drug resistance, TRAIL, p53, p21, ONC201

Mary Anne Fenton
Mary Anne Fenton, MD

TRDG Leader (Breast Cancer); Clinical Director, Breast Medical Oncology, RIH, Director of Quality, LCI

Ziya Gokaslan
Ziya Gokaslan, MD

TRDG Leader (CNS Cancer), Spinal tumors

Sheldon Holder, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine | Medical Oncologist | Physician Scientist

Suchitra Kamle, PhD

Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, antibody engineering

Hina Khan
Hina Khan, MD

Thoracic Oncology

Timothy Kinsella
Timothy Kinsella, MD

Radiation Oncology Sarcoma, brain tumors Lymphoma, GI cancer Pediatric cancer

Paul Koffer, MD

Radiation Oncology

Chun Geun Lee
Chun Geun Lee, PhD

Molecular biology and immunology

Mary L. Lopresti, MD

Breast and gynecological malignancy with a focus on young women's cancers

Rishi Lulla
Rishi Lulla, MD, MS

TRDG Leader and Facilitator (CNS Cancer and Sarcoma); Pediatric brain tumors

Anthony Mega
Anthony Mega, MD

TRDG Leader (GU Cancer); GU cancer, Medical education

Thomas Miner
Thomas Miner, MD

TRDG Leader (GI Cancer and Sarcoma); HIPEC, GI surgery, Melanoma

Reshma Munbodh, PhD

Computational Physicist

Alexander Raufi
Alexander Raufi, MD

GI Cancer

John Reagan
John Reagan, MD

TRDG Co-Leader (Hematological Malignancies), Hematological malignancies Immune therapies

Jennifer Ribeiro
Jennifer Ribeiro, PhD

Gyn Research

Ilyas Sahin, MD

Assistant Professor, Hematology Oncology, Cancer immunotherapy, Immunotherapy resistance

Attila A Seyhan, PhD

Director of Translational Oncology Operations, Joint Program in Cancer Biology, Brown University and Lifespan Cancer Institute; Core Director of Translational Oncology; Adjunct Associate Professor, Tumor metabolism and RNA processing

William Sikov
William Sikov, MD

TRDG Leader (Breast Cancer), Breast cancer, Clinical trials

Robert Sobol, PhD
Robert Sobol, PhD

Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Cancer DNA damage and repair, DNA replication, Environmental toxicology, mouse models, NAD (Coenzyme) , PARP

Anubhav Tripathi, PhD

Biomedical Engineering

David Wazer
David Wazer, MD

TRDG Member, Director, LCI, Radiation Oncology, Brachytherapy, Proton beam, Breast, skin, GI, lung cancer

Lei Wei, MD

Associate Professor of Orthopaedics (Research)

Mamiko Yajima, MD, PhD

Developmental plasticity; Sea Urchin Model

Lanlan Zhou, MD, PhD

Core Director (Organoids); Research Assistant Professor), Translational therapeutics, Biomarkers