David Hong

Dr. Hong is an Associate Professor and Deputy Chair in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics (Phase I Program) at MD Anderson Cancer Center. The approach of the department is unique with an emphasis on molecular characterization of each patient’s tumor and personalized therapy in the Phase I setting. Dr. Hong has extensive expertise in drug development for combination therapy and patient populations with other major comorbidities, a clinical reality for many lung cancer patients due to association with smoking and advanced age (Islam KMM et al 2015). For example, he served as investigator on a recently completed combination drug trial that included cancer patients with diabetes (Busaidy N et al 2015). He has published extensively on the clinical investigation of combination drug therapy, including multiple studies involving antibody therapeutics and/or immuno-oncology drugs (Hong DS et al 2014, Hong DS et al 2015).Throughout his career, Dr. Hong has developed an interest in studying the efficacy of novel drug combinations in patients with solid tumors. Recently his research endeavors have focused on developing personalized therapies for patients, whose tumors bear specific genetic mutations/amplifications and combining targeted therapies with immunotherapies. He has demonstrated the ability to successfully place patients on clinical trials, manage toxicities and oversee the correlative studies associated with various phase I research projects.