Funda Meric Bernstam

Funda Meric-Bernstam is the Chair of the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics - the Phase I Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Medical Director of the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy (IPCT), and Professor in the Divisions of Cancer Medicine and Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. She has a basic and translational research program that is focused on molecular therapeutics, predominantly focused on PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling, to delineate the mechanism of action of each agent targeting this pathway and the molecular alterations useful to prospectively identify patients who will benefit most from each agent, and optimal combination therapies.

She has participated in, as well as led, trials including investigator-initiated trials, cooperative group trials, and industry sponsored trials. These trials have ranged from a window of opportunity trials, neoadjuvant therapy trials, a Phase I and II trials in the advanced cancer setting as well as new surgical techniques, new imaging devices and molecular diagnostics.