David S. Hong

Dr. David Hong is a Professor and Deputy Chairman in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics (Phase I Program), Clinical Medical Director of the Clinical Translational Research Center (CTRC), and Associate Vice President of Clinical Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Hong was instrumental in forming one of the largest and most innovative phase 1 clinical trial units in the world, with over 1300 patients enrolled in clinical trials in 2021 and over 400 active ongoing clinical trials. Dr. Hong has been the principal investigator of over 120 research protocols involving a wide range of sponsors, including the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program at the National Cancer Institute. He has published over 374 publications in peer-reviewed journals, such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Nature. He has been involved in the early development of cabozantinib, siltuximab, dabrafenib, trametinib, regorafenib, lenvatinib, larotrectinib, tisotumab vendotin, and sotorasib (the first KRAS-targeting drug that has received FDA approval). He has also helped found 2 companies: OncoResponse and Telperian. He is an expert on c-Met, NTRK, KRAS, and adoptive cellular therapy in solid tumors and has led several national trials, such as the c-Met amplified, c-Met exon 14 deleted, and NTRK arms of the NCI-MATCH trial. He has been awarded the ASCO Young Investigator Award, the Jesse Jones Award, the Best Boss Award at MD Anderson, the Irwin Krakoff Award for Clinical Research, the Gerald P. Bodey Award for Excellence in Education, and Mentor of the Year in the Division of Cancer Medicine, MD Anderson.