Theodore W. Laetsch

Dr. Theodore Laetsch is a pediatric oncologist and leads both the Developmental Therapeutics Program (DVL) and the Very Rare Malignant Tumors Program (VRMTP) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, as well as holding national leadership roles in each of these areas within the Children’s Oncology Group (COG). In the DVL program, Dr. Laetsch conducts early phase clinical trials of new treatments for children with difficult to treat cancers, with a particular area of focus including molecularly targeted therapies that are designed to block specific genetic mutations identified in patients' tumors. In particular, Dr. Laetsch leads the pediatric development of TRK inhibitors for children with NTRK gene fusions, and now leads a COG nationwide clinical trial studying the ability to use TRK inhibitors instead of chemotherapy for children with one of these gene fusions.