The UCSF and global oncology communities mourn the death of Felix Y. Feng, MD, a nationally renowned radiation oncologist and a leading figure in genitourinary cancer research. A professor of Radiation Oncology, Urology and Medicine, and Vice Chair of translational research at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feng passed away from cancer on December 10, 2024, at the age of 48.
“Felix Feng was an exceptional scientist – a once-in-a-generation scientist – and his staggering intellect and scientific insights led to his remarkable scientific accomplishments,” said Eric J. Small, MD, deputy director and chief scientific officer of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and co-director of the UCSF Prostate Cancer program with Feng. “But as important as his scientific successes were, Felix could build communities of individuals, collaborations and teams like no one else. He will be profoundly missed by his many friends and colleagues at UCSF and across the nation.”
Peers Remember Feng
A prominent radiation oncologist, scientist, author, and researcher, Feng dedicated his life’s work to genitourinary cancer care and research. As an expert in translational genomics and pre-clinical therapeutics for prostate cancer, Feng’s research focused on the discovery of prognostic and predictive biomarkers to advance precision cancer medicine, and novel therapeutic strategies to overcome treatment resistance for patients with aggressive prostate cancer.
Under his guidance, biologists and computational scientists in the Feng Laboratory at UCSF produced the first clinical-grade biomarker panels that predict prostate cancer response to radiation or hormone therapy after surgery, developed a DNA biomarker that predicts resistance to targeted therapy and helped discover the processes by which specific genes contribute to prostate cancer progression and metastasis.
Feng conducted numerous clinical trials evaluating new treatments and was co-principal investigator of one of the first biomarker-driven clinical trials for patients with metastatic prostate cancer. He was also the principal investigator for multiple research project grants from a variety of federal sources and foundations, including a multimillion-dollar SPORE grant from the National Cancer Institute for UCSF’s Prostate Cancer Program.
In addition to his transformative cancer research, Feng was also an expert radiation oncologist who co-led UCSF’s prostate cancer program focused on the treatment of prostate cancer patients. He cared for patients with high-risk aggressive prostate cancers as well as oligometastatic disease. His innovative therapeutic approaches included intensity-modulated radiation therapy and stereotactic ablative radiotherapy. As an entrepreneur, he founded two companies aimed at individualizing cancer treatments for each patient.
“Felix was a giant in the field of prostate cancer and had an inspiring vision of integrating genomics data with experimental biology, allowing us to test the function of the genetic mutations that were being discovered, and developing new ways of treating prostate cancer,” said Jonathan Chou, MD, PhD, UCSF genitourinary oncologist and a frequent collaborator of Feng’s. "Felix did it all, and was a true renaissance man, leading landmark studies not only in biomarker development in radiation oncology trials and advancing artificial intelligence tools for prostate cancer, but also pioneering approaches to explore the genomic, epigenomic and 3D chromatin landscapes from tiny biopsy samples of metastatic prostate cancer. Because he could so easily navigate between the clinical and research spheres, he had an all-encompassing bird's eye view of prostate cancer research, always knowing where the puck was going to next, and being among the first to get there.”
During his career, Feng had 434 publications to his credit, averaging to 23 publications per year, nearly two per month, every month of every year. Feng was recently ranked in the top one percent of scientists in the U.S. by an internationally recognized metric, measuring his productivity and impact of his scholarly publications.
His contributions to the field were repeatedly recognized with awards and accolades, among them, several from the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) including the Clinical Science Award, Basic Science Award, Translational Research Symposium Merit award and Resident Clinical Research Award.
His Role as a Mentor
In addition to his legacy as a pioneering physician-scientist, Feng was also a dedicated mentor to his researchers and clinicians and found great gratification in training and inspiring the next generation of physicians and researchers.
In 2024, Feng received the “Mentorship Award” from the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and in late December, the American Society for Clinical Oncology endowed a new “Felix Feng Prostate Cancer Young Investigator Award” which will fund a young prostate cancer investigator annually.
Feng himself described mentorship experiences and the role of mentorship as a core component of his life. “I think that the magnitude of what we accomplish is not measured in just what we have done but measured in terms of the kind of collective efforts of everyone that you've helped along the way,” he said.
For Carissa Chu, MD, UCSF urologic cancer surgeon and a former member of Feng’s lab, his impact on everyone he came in contact with was profound.
“Felix saved many lives and changed them for the better. He played a crucial role in my journey every step of the way,” said Chu. “When I was still a trainee, he took me under his wing as someone who had a very limited skill set and just surrounded me with his resources and his people and importantly, freedom. He pushed me when I needed to be pushed, but he never hovered or micromanaged. I’ve had many mentors in my training, but none of them were like Felix. Felix was someone who climbed very quickly to the top. And instead of looking out and enjoying the view, he has looked back, reached behind him, found the youngest person in the room and said, “Don’t worry about falling or missing a step - try again you can do this.”
Another of his mentees, Xiaolin Zhu, MD, PhD, UCSF genitourinary oncologist and member of the Feng Lab, says the most important lesson he learned from Feng was to help others whenever you can.
“Felix’s impact was not just about how many resources he had, how brilliant he was, or how many groundbreaking papers he published – although he’s exceptional in all these areas – what truly sets him apart is how generous a person he was,” said Zhu. “Felix genuinely cared about people, and he deeply believed that by helping others, we can move the science forward together. This isn’t just mentorship in the traditional sense – it’s a way of being. Felix showed me, and others, that collaboration and kindness are not just nice-to-haves but essential ingredients for progress in science and in life.”
“He brought junior scientists along for the ride and then shared credit abundantly. He was also a huge supporter of women scientists in the lab, recruiting to get the best minds to join his quest to conquer prostate cancer (in a field that is predominantly male), and was intentional about building community within our lab, as exemplified by happy hours, lab lunches and our annual rafting trip down the American River,” said Jonathan Chou. “For me personally and my career, Felix was instrumental in helping me transition from fellow to faculty, supporting me as I developed translational research projects in bladder cancer, in addition to continuing my work in prostate cancer. He was a premier physician-scientist, and someone who I absolutely model my own career after.”
His Journey to Oncology Leadership
Feng was raised in Palo Alto and received his undergraduate training from Stanford University, where he earned a degree in Biological Sciences and received a President’s Award for Academic Excellence. He studied medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, where he received numerous awards for his research and academic achievements. He completed both a postdoctoral research fellowship and his residency in radiation oncology at the University of Michigan. He joined the faculty there, becoming director of the translational genomics division; co-led the multidisciplinary clinic for prostate cancer patients, and directed the radiation oncology department's genitourinary cancer program.
Since joining UCSF in 2016, he held numerous leadership roles that advanced UCSF’s mission and strengthened cancer research and treatment. He was a George and Judy Marcus Distinguished Professor; the aforementioned vice chair for translational research in the UCSF Department of Radiation Oncology; the director of the Benioff Initiative for Prostate Cancer Research; associate director for translational clinical research; and co-leader of the Prostate Cancer Program for the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
His leadership also extended to organizations outside of UCSF in the national and international cancer research community. As a member of the National Cancer Institute’s Genitourinary Cancer Steering Committee, he helped oversee and evaluate clinical trials proposed by national clinical trials groups. He also served as chair of the Biology Scientific Track for the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and served as chair of the Genitourinary Translational Research Program for the RTOG/NRG national clinical trials group. Feng’s impact extended to the international cancer community as he established a network of research collaborations across North America, in Europe, Asia and Australia.
Last year, Feng and other prominent cancer researchers, established The Feng Symposium to bring together a diverse group of cancer researchers to provide a single forum for a discussion of novel, state-of-the-art therapeutic approaches to prostate cancer. The symposium will again take place this February, giving researchers from bench science, translational and clinical disciplines an opportunity to bond and form scientific connections across the spectrum of prostate cancer research.
The symposium reflects the personal and professional relationships that Feng cultivated over the course of his career and the impact he had on friends and colleagues alike.
“The story everyone here, and countless others, will tell you is that when you were spending time with Felix – talking science, planning a clinical trial, discussing patient care, mulling over onco-politics, grabbing a coffee at Starbucks – that Felix was PRESENT,” noted Eric Small. “Felix made it clear that discussion, that question, that moment, was the most important in the world. Felix, more than anyone I know, did that.”