Naoto T. Ueno

Dr. Naoto Ueno is a tenured Professor of Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. His research is in the area of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC)/triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and the molecular mechanism of metastasis and cancer microenvironment in breast cancer. He is best known for his various preclinical development and biomarkers which led to novel investigator-initiated clinical trials related to breast cancer. Naoto is the Executive Director of the Morgan Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer Program and Clinic and Section Chief of the Translational Breast Cancer Research at Department of Breast Medical Oncology. Here, his current research interests include elucidating the role and the underlying mechanism of several signaling pathways, including epidermal growth factor receptor, transforming growth factor beta (TBF- beta), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and Axl receptor tyrosine kinase, in promoting the progression of TNBC and IBC. His research also focuses on determining the impact of the tumor microenvironment on the efficacy of targeted therapy and establishing novel therapeutic approaches by modulating the tumor microenvironment. He has more than six ongoing investigator-initiated clinical trials for patients with IBC and TNBC. He serves as a standing member of the Drug Discovery and Molecular Pharmacology Study Sections, NIH. He is also the chief-in-editor of Journal of Cancer and serves as the editor of Journal of National Cancer Institute. Naoto received the Nylene Eckles Distinguished Professorship of Breast Cancer Research in 2012, the University of Texas System Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award for his mentoring contributions in 2014 and MD Anderson Distinguished Clinical Faculty Mentor Award in 2019.