Eric J. Small, MD

Eric J. Small, MD

Doris and Donald Fisher Distinguished Professorship in Clinical Cancer Research; Stanford W. Ascherman and Norman R. Ascherman Endowed Chair, UCSF

Professor In Residence of Medicine and Urology; Deputy Director and Chief Scientific Officer; Co-Leader, Prostate Cancer Program, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center

Cancer Center Program Membership

Prostate Cancer

Phone: (415) 476-4616 (appts)

Box 1711, UCSF
San Francisco, CA 94143-1711

Physician Biography

UCSF Profiles

Research Summary

My interests lie in clinical and translational research in advanced prostate cancer, including trial design, and development of novel agents. I piloted the early trials targeting the androgen receptor in advanced prostate cancer, developing ketoconazole and contributing to an understanding of its mechanisms of activity and resistance. I subsequently was centrally involved with the development of two novel androgen signaling inhibitors, abiraterone acetate and apalutamide, from first in human studies to FDA approval. 

I have also been involved in the early application of immunotherapy to prostate cancer, developing sipuleucel T from first in human studies through FDA approval, and undertaking the first in human testing of ipilimumab, the first immune check point inhibitor to be clinically developed. 

Understanding the mechanisms of resistance in advanced prostate cancer has been a research focus. I was principal investigator of a $10 million multi-center Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C)/Prostate Cancer Foundation Dream Team Award undertaking deep genomic characterization of prostate cancer metastases, in order to elucidate patterns of resistance in abiraterone and/or enzalutamide treated patients. Important observations from this, and subsequent work have included unexpectedly high prevalence rates of treatment associated small cell/neuroendocrine prostate cancer (t-SCNC), as well key structural variants which contribute to progression of castration-resistant disease, observed in the largest Whole Genome Sequencing series to date of metastatic advanced prostate cancer specimens. 

I hold a number of leadership roles, serving as Co-Leader of the UCSF Prostate Cancer Program, and as Deputy Director of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. I previously served as Chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology in the UCSF Department of Medicine for 10 years, and most recently have assumed the position of Chief Scientific Officer in the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Nationally, I serve on the ASCO Board of Directors, and chair 4 External Advisory Boards for other NCI-Designated Cancer Centers.

Education

Stanford University, Stanford, CA, BS, 1980, Biology
Case Western Reserve University of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, MD, 1985, Medicine
Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, MA, Internship and Residency, 1988, Internal Medicine
University of California San Francisco, CA, Fellowship, 1991, Hematology/Oncology

Honors & Awards

  • 1978
    Biomedical Research Grant, The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbour, ME
  • 1980
    NIH Research Support Grant, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
  • 1984
    Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society
  • 1997
    Prostate Cancer Foundation Therapy Consortium
  • 2006-present
    Stanford W. and Norman R. Ascherman Endowed Chair

Selected Publications

  1. Pollock Y, Smith MR, Saad F, Chowdhury S, Oudard S, Hadaschik B, Olmos D, Lee JY, Uemura H, Bhaumik A, Londhe A, Rooney B, Brookman-May SD, De Porre P, Mundle SD, Small EJ. Correction to: Clinical characteristics associated with falls in patients with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer treated with apalutamide. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2023 Aug 24.  View on PubMed
  2. Small EJ. Flashback Foreword: Gemcitabine/Cisplatin Versus Methotrexate, Vinblastine, Doxorubicin, and Cisplatin in Transitional Cell Carcinoma. J Clin Oncol. 2023 08 10; 41(23):3879-3880.  View on PubMed
  3. Lundberg A, Zhang M, Aggarwal R, Li H, Zhang L, Foye A, Sjöström M, Chou J, Chang K, Moreno-Rodriguez T, Shrestha R, Baskin A, Zhu X, Weinstein AS, Younger N, Alumkal JJ, Beer TM, Chi KN, Evans CP, Gleave M, Lara PN, Reiter RE, Rettig MB, Witte ON, Wyatt AW, Feng FY, Small EJ, Quigley DA. The Genomic and Epigenomic Landscape of Double-Negative Metastatic Prostate Cancer. Cancer Res. 2023 08 15; 83(16):2763-2774.  View on PubMed
  4. Jindal T, Zhang L, Deshmukh P, Reyes K, Chan E, Kumar V, Zhu X, Maldonado E, Feng S, Johnson M, Angelidakis A, Kwon D, Desai A, Borno HT, Bose R, Wong A, Hong J, Carroll P, Meng M, Porten S, Aggarwal R, Small EJ, Fong L, Chou J, Friedlander T, de Kouchkovsky I, Koshkin VS. Impact of Squamous Histology on Clinical Outcomes and Molecular Profiling in Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma PatientsTreated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors or Enfortumab Vedotin. Clin Genitourin Cancer. 2023 May 17.  View on PubMed
  5. Halabi S, Yang Q, Roy A, Luo B, Araujo JC, Logothetis C, Sternberg CN, Armstrong AJ, Carducci MA, Chi KN, de Bono JS, Petrylak DP, Fizazi K, Higano CS, Morris MJ, Rathkopf DE, Saad F, Ryan CJ, Small EJ, Kelly WK. External Validation of a Prognostic Model of Overall Survival in Men With Chemotherapy-Naïve Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2023 05 20; 41(15):2736-2746.  View on PubMed
  6. Jindal T, Zhu X, Bose R, Kumar V, Maldonado E, Deshmukh P, Shipp C, Feng S, Johnson MS, Angelidakis A, Kwon D, Borno HT, de Kouchkovsky I, Desai A, Aggarwal R, Fong L, Small EJ, Wong A, Porten S, Chou J, Friedlander T, Koshkin VS. Somatic alterations of TP53 and MDM2 associated with response to enfortumab vedotin in patients with advanced urothelial cancer. Front Oncol. 2023; 13:1161089.  View on PubMed
  7. Morris MJ, Heller G, Hillman DW, Bobek O, Ryan C, Antonarakis ES, Bryce AH, Hahn O, Beltran H, Armstrong AJ, Schwartz L, Lewis LD, Beumer JH, Langevin B, McGary EC, Mehan PT, Goldkorn A, Roth BJ, Xiao H, Watt C, Taplin ME, Halabi S, Small EJ. Randomized Phase III Study of Enzalutamide Compared With Enzalutamide Plus Abiraterone for Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (Alliance A031201 Trial). J Clin Oncol. 2023 06 20; 41(18):3352-3362.  View on PubMed
  8. Chi KN, Rathkopf D, Smith MR, Efstathiou E, Attard G, Olmos D, Lee JY, Small EJ, Pereira de Santana Gomes AJ, Roubaud G, Saad M, Zurawski B, Sakalo V, Mason GE, Francis P, Wang G, Wu D, Diorio B, Lopez-Gitlitz A, Sandhu S, MAGNITUDE Principal Investigators. Niraparib and Abiraterone Acetate for Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2023 06 20; 41(18):3339-3351.  View on PubMed
  9. Gillessen S, Bossi A, Davis ID, de Bono J, Fizazi K, James ND, Mottet N, Shore N, Small E, Smith M, Sweeney CJ, Tombal B, Antonarakis ES, Aparicio AM, Armstrong AJ, Attard G, Beer TM, Beltran H, Bjartell A, Blanchard P, Briganti A, Bristow RG, Bulbul M, Caffo O, Castellano D, Castro E, Cheng HH, Chi KN, Chowdhury S, Clarke CS, Clarke N, Daugaard G, De Santis M, Duran I, Eeles R, Efstathiou E, Efstathiou J, Ekeke ON, Evans CP, Fanti S, Feng FY, Fonteyne V, Fossati N, Frydenberg M, George D, Gleave M, Gravis G, Halabi S, Heinrich D, Herrmann K, Higano C, Hofman MS, Horvath LG, Hussain M, Jereczek-Fossa BA, Jones R, Kanesvaran R, Kellokumpu-Lehtinen PL, Khauli RB, Klotz L, Kramer G, Leibowitz R, Logothetis C, Mahal B, Maluf F, Mateo J, Matheson D, Mehra N, Merseburger A, Morgans AK, Morris MJ, Mrabti H, Mukherji D, Murphy DG, Murthy V, Nguyen PL, Oh WK, Ost P, O'Sullivan JM, Padhani AR, Pezaro CJ, Poon DMC, Pritchard CC, Rabah DM, Rathkopf D, Reiter RE, Rubin MA, Ryan CJ, Saad F, Sade JP, Sartor O, Scher HI, Sharifi N, Skoneczna I, Soule H, Spratt DE, Srinivas S, Sternberg CN, Steuber T, Suzuki H, Sydes MR, Taplin ME, Tilki D, Türkeri L, Turco F, Uemura H, Uemura H, Ürün Y, Vale CL, van Oort I, Vapiwala N, Walz J, Yamoah K, Ye D, Yu EY, Zapatero A, Zilli T, Omlin A. Management of patients with advanced prostate cancer-metastatic and/or castration-resistant prostate cancer: Report of the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) 2022. Eur J Cancer. 2023 05; 185:178-215.  View on PubMed
  10. Chou J, Egusa EA, Wang S, Badura ML, Lee F, Bidkar AP, Zhu J, Shenoy T, Trepka K, Robinson TM, Steri V, Huang J, Wang Y, Small EJ, Chan E, Stohr BA, Ashworth A, Delafontaine B, Rottey S, Cooke KS, Hashemi Sadraei N, Yu B, Salvati M, Bailis JM, Feng FY, Flavell RR, Aggarwal R. Immunotherapeutic Targeting and PET Imaging of DLL3 in Small-Cell Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer. Cancer Res. 2023 01 18; 83(2):301-315.  View on PubMed
  11. Kwon DH, Gordon KM, Tong B, Borno HT, Beigh M, Fattah D, Schleicher A, Aggarwal RR, Blanco AM, Small EJ, Dhawan M. Implementation of a Telehealth Genetic Testing Station to Deliver Germline Testing for Men With Prostate Cancer. JCO Oncol Pract. 2023 05; 19(5):e773-e783.  View on PubMed
  12. Feng E, Rydzewski NR, Zhang M, Lundberg A, Bootsma M, Helzer KT, Lang JM, Aggarwal R, Small EJ, Quigley DA, Sjöström M, Zhao SG. Intrinsic Molecular Subtypes of Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 12 15; 28(24):5396-5404.  View on PubMed
  13. Langlais CS, Chen YH, Van Blarigan EL, Chan JM, Ryan CJ, Zhang L, Borno HT, Newton RU, Luke A, Bang AS, Panchal N, Tenggara I, Schultz B, Lavaki E, Pinto N, Aggarwal R, Friedlander T, Koshkin VS, Harzstark AL, Small EJ, Kenfield SA. Quality of life for men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer participating in an aerobic and resistance exercise pilot intervention. Urol Oncol. 2023 03; 41(3):146.e1-146.e11.  View on PubMed
  14. Gillessen S, Bossi A, Davis ID, de Bono J, Fizazi K, James ND, Mottet N, Shore N, Small E, Smith M, Sweeney C, Tombal B, Antonarakis ES, Aparicio AM, Armstrong AJ, Attard G, Beer TM, Beltran H, Bjartell A, Blanchard P, Briganti A, Bristow RG, Bulbul M, Caffo O, Castellano D, Castro E, Cheng HH, Chi KN, Chowdhury S, Clarke CS, Clarke N, Daugaard G, De Santis M, Duran I, Eeles R, Efstathiou E, Efstathiou J, Ngozi Ekeke O, Evans CP, Fanti S, Feng FY, Fonteyne V, Fossati N, Frydenberg M, George D, Gleave M, Gravis G, Halabi S, Heinrich D, Herrmann K, Higano C, Hofman MS, Horvath LG, Hussain M, Jereczek-Fossa BA, Jones R, Kanesvaran R, Kellokumpu-Lehtinen PL, Khauli RB, Klotz L, Kramer G, Leibowitz R, Logothetis CJ, Mahal BA, Maluf F, Mateo J, Matheson D, Mehra N, Merseburger A, Morgans AK, Morris MJ, Mrabti H, Mukherji D, Murphy DG, Murthy V, Nguyen PL, Oh WK, Ost P, O'Sullivan JM, Padhani AR, Pezaro C, Poon DMC, Pritchard CC, Rabah DM, Rathkopf D, Reiter RE, Rubin MA, Ryan CJ, Saad F, Pablo Sade J, Sartor OA, Scher HI, Sharifi N, Skoneczna I, Soule H, Spratt DE, Srinivas S, Sternberg CN, Steuber T, Suzuki H, Sydes MR, Taplin ME, Tilki D, Türkeri L, Turco F, Uemura H, Uemura H, Ürün Y, Vale CL, van Oort I, Vapiwala N, Walz J, Yamoah K, Ye D, Yu EY, Zapatero A, Zilli T, Omlin A. Management of Patients with Advanced Prostate Cancer. Part I: Intermediate-/High-risk and Locally Advanced Disease, Biochemical Relapse, and Side Effects of Hormonal Treatment: Report of the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference 2022. Eur Urol. 2023 03; 83(3):267-293.  View on PubMed
  15. Ragavan MV, Legaspi N, LaLanne A, Hong JC, Small EJ, Borno HT. Analysis of Serious Adverse Event Reporting for Patients Enrolled in Cancer Clinical Trials During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA Oncol. 2022 12 01; 8(12):1849-1851.  View on PubMed
  16. Kwon DH, Shakhnazaryan N, Shui D, Hong JC, Mohamad O, de Kouchkovsky I, Borno HT, Bose R, Chou J, Desai A, Fong L, Friedlander TW, Koshkin VS, Aggarwal RR, Feng FY, Hope TA, Small EJ. Serial stereotactic body radiation therapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer detected by novel PET-based radiotracers. Urol Oncol. 2023 03; 41(3):145.e7-145.e15.  View on PubMed
  17. Borno HT, Kim MO, Tolstykh I, Lin A, Hong JC, Yousefi S, Zhang S, McKay RR, Harismendy O, Razavi P, Cinar P, Rugo H, Koshkin VS, Rabow M, Wang C, Bailey A, Small EJ. Assessing Unique Risk Factors for COVID-19 Complications Among Cancer Patients: A Multi-ethnic Cohort Study. J Immigr Minor Health. 2023 Jun; 25(3):624-633.  View on PubMed
  18. Sjöström M, Zhao SG, Levy S, Zhang M, Ning Y, Shrestha R, Lundberg A, Herberts C, Foye A, Aggarwal R, Hua JT, Li H, Bergamaschi A, Maurice-Dror C, Maheshwari A, Chen S, Ng SWS, Ye W, Petricca J, Fraser M, Chesner L, Perry MD, Moreno-Rodriguez T, Chen WS, Alumkal JJ, Chou J, Morgans AK, Beer TM, Thomas GV, Gleave M, Lloyd P, Phillips T, McCarthy E, Haffner MC, Zoubeidi A, Annala M, Reiter RE, Rettig MB, Witte ON, Fong L, Bose R, Huang FW, Luo J, Bjartell A, Lang JM, Mahajan NP, Lara PN, Evans CP, Tran PT, Posadas EM, He C, Cui XL, Huang J, Zwart W, Gilbert LA, Maher CA, Boutros PC, Chi KN, Ashworth A, Small EJ, He HH, Wyatt AW, Quigley DA, Feng FY. The 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine Landscape of Prostate Cancer. Cancer Res. 2022 11 02; 82(21):3888-3902.  View on PubMed
  19. Pollock Y, Smith MR, Saad F, Chowdhury S, Oudard S, Hadaschik B, Olmos D, Lee JY, Uemura H, Bhaumik A, Londhe A, Rooney B, Brookman-May SD, De Porre P, Mundle SD, Small EJ. Clinical characteristics associated with falls in patients with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer treated with apalutamide. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2023 03; 26(1):156-161.  View on PubMed
  20. Aggarwal R, Alumkal JJ, Szmulewitz RZ, Higano CS, Bryce AH, Lopez-Gitlitz A, McCarthy SA, Miladinovic B, McQuarrie K, Thomas S, Zhang K, Small EJ. Randomized, Open-Label Phase 2 Study of Apalutamide plus Androgen Deprivation Therapy versus Apalutamide Monotherapy versus Androgen Deprivation Monotherapy in Patients with Biochemically Recurrent Prostate Cancer. Prostate Cancer. 2022; 2022:5454727.  View on PubMed

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