Center for Cancer Research Investigators
The Center for Cancer Research has a dedicated faculty of over 40 independent investigators using state-of-the-art tools in a variety of fields: genetics, genomics, developmental biology, transgenic science, cancer immunology, advanced microscopy, computational biology, protein chemistry, engineering, pharmacology, and other fields.
Daniel A. Haber, MD, PhD
Director, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Kurt J. Isselbacher Professor of Oncology
Research topics include: genetics of cancer; breast cancer; Wilms tumor; somatic mutations linked to drug susceptibility in lung cancer.
Nabeel Bardeesy, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Liron Bar-Peled, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: Transcription factor NRF2, anti-oxidant response, stress signaling.
Lloyd Bod, PhD
Member of the Faculty (appointment in process), Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: phenotypic and functional B cell states within tumors, B cell response and cancer immunotherapies.
Priscilla K. Brastianos, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: genomic drivers of human brain tumors.
Ryan Corcoran, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: developing new and effective therapies for gastrointestinal cancers.
Shadmehr (Shawn) Demehri, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: role of the immune system in regulating the early stages of cancer development.
Nicholas Dyson, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Mary B. Saltonstall Chair in Oncology, Harvard Medical School
James and Shirley Curvey MGH Research Scholar
Research topics include: E2F - and pRB-; tumorigenesis.
Andrew Elia, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Research topics include: DNA damage response; Replication stress; Ubiquitination; Quantitative proteomics.
Leif Ellisen, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Director of Breast Medical Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: P53 and human tumorigenesis; breast cancer.
David Fisher, MD, PhD
Chief, Department of Dermatology, Edward Wigglesworth Professor of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: cell death/proliferation signals in relation to development and disease, particularly in cancer of pigment cells (melanoma) and tumors of childhood.
Gad A. Getz, PhD*
Paul Zamecnik Chair in Cancer Research, Professor of Pathology and Director of BioInformation, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: cancer genome analysis.
Timothy Graubert, MD
Jon and Jo Ann Hagler Chair in Hematology-Oncology
Program Director, Hematologic Malignancies, Cancer Center
Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: molecular basis of human blood cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.
Wilhelm Haas, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomics to study the cellular pathways that characterize cancer cells.
Nir Hacohen, PhD
Director, Center for Cancer Immunology
Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Senior Member, Broad Institute
Research topics include: developing new and unbiased strategies to understand basic immune processes and immune-mediated diseases, with an emphasis on the innate immune system.
Aaron Hata, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Assistant Physician in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the Massachusetts General Hospital
Research topics include: understanding the biological underpinnings of sensitivity and resistance to kinase inhibitor targeted therapies in lung cancers with specific genetic abnormalities (EGFR mutations, ALK translocations, KRAS mutations).
Konrad Hochedlinger, PhD**
Professor of Medicine and Regenerative Medicine, Department of Molecular Biology, Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, and FAS, HU
Research topics include: pluripotency and nuclear reprogramming.
Hanno Hock, MD, PhD**
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: transcription factors in blood development and leukemia.
A. John Iafrate, MD, PhD*
Professor of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: bringing new genetic technologies to cancer diagnostics and applying them to improve the practice of pathology.
Othon Iliopoulos, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: understanding the biochemical mechanisms of cancer angiogenesis and cancer metabolism in order to identify and validate new targets for treatment of Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC).
Max Jan, MD, PhD
Member of the Faculty, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: targeted protein degradation, chemical biology, functional genomics, cellular immunotherapy.
Russell Jenkins, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital
Research topics include: PD-1, CTLA-4, immunotherapy, tumor microenvironment, organotypic tumor spheroids, 3D culture, microfluidics, cytokines.
J. Keith Joung, MD, PhD*
Professor of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: developing technologies for genome engineering using artificial "designer" DNA-binding domains.
Li Lan, MD, PhD***
Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research Topics Include: Oxidative DNA damage, RNA-mediated HR pathway, ROS-Induced R Loops, Telomere dysregulation.
David Langenau, PhD*
Professor of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: uncovering mechanisms that drive relapse in pediatric tumors to help identify new therapeutic drug targets to treat relapse disease.
Michael S. Lawrence, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School
Assistant Geneticist at the Mass General Cancer Center
Research topics include: using computation as a powerful microscope to study the processes of DNA damage and repair, gene expression and genome replication, and cancer driver genes.
Shyamala Maheswaran, PhD
Professor of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: tumorigenesis, breast cancer and cancer genetics.
Robert Manguso, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: cancer immunology, immunotherapy, functional genomics, in vivo screening.
Marcela V. Maus, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School
Director of Cellular Immunotherapy, Mass General Cancer Center
Research topics include: designing and evaluating next generation genetically-modified (CAR) T cells as immunotherapy in patients with cancer.
Andrea I. McClatchey, PhD
Director of Academic Affairs & Education
Poitras Family Professor of Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Patricia and Scott Eston MGH Research Scholar
Research topics include: neurofibromatosis type 2; epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR); cortical cytoskeleton; Ezrin, radixin, moesin (ERM proteins); polarity.
Peter Miller, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: clonal hematopoiesis, leukemia, PPM1D, stem cells.
David T. Miyamoto, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Research topics include: prostate cancer, biomarkers, circulating tumor cells (CTCs).
Raul Mostoslavsky, MD, PhD
Scientific Co-Director, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
The Laurel Schwartz Professor of Oncology (Medicine), Harvard Medical School
Associate Member, The Broad Institute
Research topics include: sirtuins in aging and metabolism; chromatin structure and DNA repair.
Mo Motamedi, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: RNA-mediated epigenetic gene silencing.
Eugene Oh, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: ubiquitin, cell signaling, gene expression, chromatin, cell cycle
Christopher Ott, PhD
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Research topics include: cancer epigenetics, chromatin chemical biology, gene expression control in leukemia and lymphoma.
Shiv Pillai, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Associate Geneticist, Center for Cancer Research
Research topics include: B cell Development and Lineage Commitment; A Novel Cell Surface Acetylation/Deacetylation Paradigm for Regulating Humoral Immunity and Development; Characterizing Peripheral Human B cells and B cells in Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.
Luca Pinello, PhD
Associate Professor of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School
Faculty, Mass General Pathology
Research topics include: using innovative computational approaches and cutting-edge experimental assays to systematically analyze sources of genetic and epigenetic variation and gene expression variability that underlie human traits and diseases.
Esther Rheinbay, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Research topics include: non-coding drivers, FOXA1.
Miguel Rivera, MD*
Associate Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Thomas F. and Diana L. Ryan MGH Research Scholar
Research topics include: gene regulation in cancer, chromatin, epigenomics, developmental pathways in cancer.
Debattama Sen, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: regulation of T cell dysfunction, CD8+ T cells, epigenetic approaches for T cell engineering, immunology, systems biology and epigenomics.
Dennis Sgroi, MD*
Pathologist, Director of Breast Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital
Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Research topics include: Human Breast Cancer Anti-Hormonal Resistance.
Toshihiro Shioda, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: signaling of mammary epithelial cells.
David Spriggs, MD
Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: proteins on the ovarian cancer cell surface, CA125, Anti-MUC16, Glycosylation Dependence, Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T Cells, Galectin 3 Targeting.
Shannon Stott, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: Circulating tumor cells; microfluidics and control of the cell microenvironment; imaging.
Mario Luca Suva, MD, PhD*
Assistant Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Research topics include: biology of brain tumors, in particular glioblastoma and oligodendroglioma.
David Sweetser, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Research topics include: leukemia, tumor suppressor gene, cancer genetics, stem cell, targeted therapy.
David Ting, MD
Associate Professor in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).
Shobha Vasudevan, PhD**
Associate Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Research topics include: Translation, Quiescence, Ribosomes, RNA modification, Resistance, Non-coding RNAs, AU-rich elements, Cytokines, Stress signals.
Alexandra-Chloé Villani, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Research topics include: developing and implementing single-cell ‘omics’ strategies and systems immunology approaches to further unravel the players and rules governing human immune response regulation as a foundation for deciphering human traits and diseases.
Lee Zou, PhD*
Scientific Co-Director, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School
James & Patricia Poitras Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, Harvard Medical School
Jim & Ann Orr MGH Research Scholar
Research topics include: DNA damage response; DNA damage checkpoint; checkpoint signaling; checkpoint activation; genomic instability.
* Denotes a joint appointment with the Mass General Molecular Pathology Unit
** Denotes a joint appointment with the Mass General Center for Regenerative Medicine and Technology
*** Denotes a joint recruitment with the Department of Radiation Oncology