John Heymach, MD, PhD

Professor and Chair, Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at MD Anderson

Speaker

John V. Heymach, MD, PhD, is the Chair of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology and a Professor in the Departments of Thoracic Head and Neck Medical Oncology and Cancer Biology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Heymach joined the faculty in 2005 as an Assistant Professor, with a joint appointment in Thoracic/ Head and Neck Medical Oncology and Cancer Biology. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2009 and Professor in 2013. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and both his MD and PhD from Stanford University Medical School in California. He then completed his Internship and Residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and his fellowship in Medical Oncology at Dana Farber Hospital. During his fellowship, he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Judah Folkman with clinical mentorship under Dr. Bruce Johnson.

As a physician-scientist, his research focuses on investigating mechanisms of therapeutic resistance to targeted agents, understanding the regulation of angiogenesis in lung cancer, and the development of biomarkers for selecting patients most likely to benefit from targeted agents and immunotherapy. His laboratory investigates areas of important unmet needs in lung cancer research such as EGFR inhibitor-resistant disease, KRAS-mutant tumors, small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and immunologically “cold” tumors. He leads a number of phase II and III biomarker-directed clinical trials using targeted and immunotherapy agents in lung cancer in NSCLC.

Dr. Heymach is the PI on two NCI R01 and a CPRIT awards examining therapeutic vulnerabilities in molecular subsets of lung cancer, and two U01 grants focused on the investigation of novel therapeutic approaches for enhancing anti-tumor immunity in SCLC and the study of SCLC molecular and immunological heterogeneity. He is the site-leader PI for the SU2C-ACS Lung Cancer Dream Team Targeting KRAS Mutant Lung Cancers, more recently for the Mark Foundation. Dr. Heymach is the PI and project leader of The University of Texas/ UT Southwestern Lung SPORE grant and also the leader of the Lung CCSG Program and the MD Anderson Lung Cancer Moon Shot, overseeing projects focused on the development of more effective and personalized approaches for lung cancer prevention and treatment, as well as the development of therapies for molecularly defined subsets of lung cancer. He is a past recipient of the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award, an ASCO Career Development Award, the Wilson Stone Award for Basic Science Research, and the Emil J. Frei Award for Translational Research. He was elected a fellow of the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2013, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2017, and he is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation since 2019. He earned multiple honors at MD Anderson, including the Finneran Family Prize which recognizes extraordinary achievements and continued efforts to provide hope to cancer patients worldwide and the Potu N. Rao Award for excellence in basic science.