Dan Theodorescu

Dan Theodorescu is the Director of the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles, CA. Dr. Theodorescu was previously the Director at the University of Colorado where he was also a Distinguished University Professor, incumbent of the Paul Bunn Chair in Cancer Research and Professor of Surgery (Urology) and Pharmacology. Dr. Theodorescu is known for his work on the molecular mechanisms underlying bladder cancer and tools that determine drug response as well as discovery of new drugs for cancer. Examples include discovery of genes that regulate tumor growth and metastasis (RhoGDI2, AGL, GON4L) and novel biomarkers (DNA/NGS, RNA and proteomic) and concepts for precision therapeutic approaches such as the COXEN principle, that are currently being tested in national (SWOG) clinical trials. He also conceptualized the approach and then led the discovery and development of a “first in class” RalGTPase inhibitor as a new therapeutic in cancer. This drug is now in commercial development. His laboratory is funded by grants from the NIH-NCI. Theodorescu has published over 300 articles including articles in Nature, Science, Cancer Cell, PNAS and JCI. He is the recipient of a number of awards, sits on several society boards and federal government committees and is the founding co-editor of Bladder Cancer, the first journal focused on this disease. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons (AAGUS), the American Surgical Association (ASA) and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).