Research Summary

Dr. Michael L. Cheng is a medical oncologist who cares for patients with lung cancer and other tumors affecting the chest, with a particular focus on non-small cell lung cancer. He strives to provide individualized, compassionate care through precision oncology (using the genetic profile of the patient's cancer to custom-tailor treatment).

Cheng leads research centered on advancing cancer genomics and developing improved treatments for patients, including through clinical trials to evaluate new targeted therapies and immunotherapies for lung cancer. He is inspired by how research discoveries can lead to tangible benefits for patients.

Education

- Medical Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
BA, - Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley
MD, - Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles
- Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

Honors & Awards

  • Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Career Development Award
  • Alpha Omega Alpha
  • Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Merit Award
  • PCF Young Investigator Award
  • Phi Beta Kappa

Selected Publications

  1. Cote GM, Kochupurakkal BS, Do K, Bullock A, Cheng ML, Muzikansky A, McLoughlin DE, Cleary JM, Gao X, Parikh A, Park JC, Weekes CD, Yeku O, Zou L, Shapiro GI. A Translational Study of the ATR Inhibitor Berzosertib as Monotherapy in Four Molecularly Defined Cohorts of Advanced Solid Tumors. Clin Cancer Res. 2025 Jan 06; 31(1):35-44.  View on PubMed
  2. Lee HJ, Boscardin J, Walter LC, Smith AK, Cohen HJ, Giri S, Williams GR, Presley CJ, Singhal S, Huang LW, Velazquez AI, Gubens MA, Blakely CM, Mulvey CK, Cheng ML, Sakoda LC, Kushi LH, Quesenberry C, Liu R, Fleszar-Pavlovic S, Eskandar C, Cutler E, Mercurio AM, Wong ML. Associations of frailty with survival, hospitalization, functional decline, and toxicity among older adults with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Oncologist. 2024 Dec 09.  View on PubMed
  3. Baik C, Cheng ML, Dietrich M, Gray JE, Karim NA. Correction to: A Practical Review of Encorafenib and Binimetinib Therapy Management in Patients with BRAF V600EMutant Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Adv Ther. 2024 Jul; 41(7):3016.  View on PubMed
  4. Baik C, Cheng ML, Dietrich M, Gray JE, Karim NA. A Practical Review of Encorafenib and Binimetinib Therapy Management in Patients with BRAF V600E-Mutant Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Adv Ther. 2024 Jul; 41(7):2586-2605.  View on PubMed
  5. Chang H, Marquez J, Chen BK, Kim DM, Cheng ML, Liu EV, Yang H, Zhang L, Sinha M, Cheung A, Kwek SS, Chow ED, Bridge M, Aggarwal RR, Friedlander TW, Small EJ, Anderson M, Fong L. Immune Modulation with RANKL Blockade through Denosumab Treatment in Patients with Cancer. Cancer Immunol Res. 2024 Apr 02; 12(4):453-461.  View on PubMed
  6. Walmsley CS, Jonsson P, Cheng ML, McBride S, Kaeser C, Vargas HA, Laudone V, Taylor BS, Kappagantula R, Baez P, Richards AL, Noronha AM, Perera D, Berger M, Solit DB, Iacobuzio-Donahue CA, Scher HI, Donoghue MTA, Abida W, Schram AM. Convergent evolution of BRCA2 reversion mutations under therapeutic pressure by PARP inhibition and platinum chemotherapy. NPJ Precis Oncol. 2024 Feb 14; 8(1):34.  View on PubMed
  7. Luo J, Sanchez M, Lee E, Hertzler H, Luong N, Mazzola E, Finstein B, Tamen R, Brisbane G, Nguyen T, Paik PK, Chaft JE, Cheng ML, Khalil H, Piha-Paul SA, Sholl LM, Nishino M, Jänne PA, DuBois SG, Hanna GJ, Shapiro GI, French CA. Initial Chemotherapy for Locally Advanced and Metastatic NUT Carcinoma. J Thorac Oncol. 2024 May; 19(5):829-838.  View on PubMed
  8. Sacher A, LoRusso P, Patel MR, Miller WH, Garralda E, Forster MD, Santoro A, Falcon A, Kim TW, Paz-Ares L, Bowyer S, de Miguel M, Han SW, Krebs MG, Lee JS, Cheng ML, Arbour K, Massarelli E, Choi Y, Shi Z, Mandlekar S, Lin MT, Royer-Joo S, Chang J, Dharia NV, Schutzman JL, Desai J, GO42144 Investigator and Study Group. Single-Agent Divarasib (GDC-6036) in Solid Tumors with a KRAS G12C Mutation. N Engl J Med. 2023 08 24; 389(8):710-721.  View on PubMed
  9. Ricciuti B, Elkrief A, Alessi J, Wang X, Li Y, Gupta H, Muldoon DM, Bertram AA, Pecci F, Lamberti G, Di Federico A, Barrichello A, Vaz VR, Gandhi M, Lee E, Shapiro GI, Park H, Nishino M, Lindsay J, Felt KD, Sharma B, Cherniack AD, Rodig S, Gomez DR, Shaverdian N, Rakaee M, Bandlamudi C, Ladanyi M, Janne PA, Schoenfeld AJ, Sholl LM, Awad MM, Cheng ML. Clinicopathologic, Genomic, and Immunophenotypic Landscape of ATM Mutations in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2023 07 05; 29(13):2540-2550.  View on PubMed
  10. Cheng ML, Huang Y, Luong N, LoPiccolo J, Nishino M, Sholl LM, Chirieac LR, Santucci AD, Rabin MS, Jänne PA, Coker S, Diamond JR, Hilton J, Shapiro GI, French CA. Exceptional Response to Bromodomain and Extraterminal Domain Inhibitor Therapy With BMS-986158 in BRD4-NUTM1 NUT Carcinoma Harboring a BRD4 Splice Site Mutation. JCO Precis Oncol. 2023 06; 7:e2200633.  View on PubMed
  11. Cheng ML, Lee JK, Kumar R, Klein H, Raskina K, Schrock AB, Michael KS, Mazor T, Cerami E, Oxnard GR, Liu D, Beltran H, Sholl LM, Nishino M, Jänne PA. Response to MEK Inhibitor Therapy in MAP2K1 (MEK1) K57N Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer and Genomic Landscape of MAP2K1 Mutations in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer. JCO Precis Oncol. 2022 11; 6:e2200382.  View on PubMed
  12. Hilton J, Cristea M, Postel-Vinay S, Baldini C, Voskoboynik M, Edenfield W, Shapiro GI, Cheng ML, Vuky J, Corr B, Das S, Apfel A, Xu K, Kozicki M, Ünsal-Kaçmaz K, Hammell A, Wang G, Ravindran P, Kollia G, Esposito O, Coker S, Diamond JR. BMS-986158, a Small Molecule Inhibitor of the Bromodomain and Extraterminal Domain Proteins, in Patients with Selected Advanced Solid Tumors: Results from a Phase 1/2a Trial. Cancers (Basel). 2022 Aug 23; 14(17).  View on PubMed
  13. Cheng ML, Thomas V, Vaz N, Hammer MM, Nishino M, Vargas SO, Khalil HA. Lipid pneumonia associated with mineral oil use presenting as fluorine-18-fluorodeoxy-D-glucose-avid lung mass. JTCVS Tech. 2022 Oct; 15:192-194.  View on PubMed
  14. French CA, Cheng ML, Hanna GJ, DuBois SG, Chau NG, Hann CL, Storck S, Salgia R, Trucco M, Tseng J, Stathis A, Piekarz R, Lauer UM, Massard C, Bennett K, Coker S, Tontsch-Grunt U, Sos ML, Liao S, Wu CJ, Polyak K, Piha-Paul SA, Shapiro GI. Report of the First International Symposium on NUT Carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 06 13; 28(12):2493-2505.  View on PubMed
  15. Schneider JL, Muzikansky A, Lin JJ, Krueger EA, Lennes IT, Jacobson JO, Cheng M, Heist RS, Piotrowska Z, Gainor JF, Shaw AT, Dagogo-Jack I. A Phase 2 Study of Lorlatinib in Patients With ROS1-Rearranged Lung Cancer With Brain-Only Progression on Crizotinib. JTO Clin Res Rep. 2022 Jul; 3(7):100347.  View on PubMed
  16. Cheng ML, Milan MSD, Tamen RM, Bertram AA, Michael KS, Ricciuti B, Kehl KL, Awad MM, Sholl LM, Paweletz CP, Jänne PA. Plasma cfDNA Genotyping in Hospitalized Patients With Suspected Metastatic NSCLC. JCO Precis Oncol. 2021 11; 5:726-732.  View on PubMed
  17. Alessi JV, Ricciuti B, Spurr LF, Gupta H, Li YY, Glass C, Nishino M, Cherniack AD, Lindsay J, Sharma B, Felt KD, Rodig SJ, Cheng ML, Sholl LM, Awad MM. SMARCA4 and Other SWItch/Sucrose NonFermentable Family Genomic Alterations in NSCLC: Clinicopathologic Characteristics and Outcomes to Immune Checkpoint Inhibition. J Thorac Oncol. 2021 07; 16(7):1176-1187.  View on PubMed
  18. Tsui DWY, Cheng ML, Shady M, Yang JL, Stephens D, Won H, Srinivasan P, Huberman K, Meng F, Jing X, Patel J, Hasan M, Johnson I, Gedvilaite E, Houck-Loomis B, Socci ND, Selcuklu SD, Seshan VE, Zhang H, Chakravarty D, Zehir A, Benayed R, Arcila M, Ladanyi M, Funt SA, Feldman DR, Li BT, Razavi P, Rosenberg J, Bajorin D, Iyer G, Abida W, Scher HI, Rathkopf D, Viale A, Berger MF, Solit DB. Tumor fraction-guided cell-free DNA profiling in metastatic solid tumor patients. Genome Med. 2021 05 31; 13(1):96.  View on PubMed
  19. Ricciuti B, Jones G, Severgnini M, Alessi JV, Recondo G, Lawrence M, Forshew T, Lydon C, Nishino M, Cheng M, Awad M. Early plasma circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) changes predict response to first-line pembrolizumab-based therapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). J Immunother Cancer. 2021 03; 9(3).  View on PubMed
  20. Cheng ML, Lau CJ, Milan MSD, Supplee JG, Riess JW, Bradbury PA, Jänne PA, Oxnard GR, Paweletz CP. Plasma ctDNA Response Is an Early Marker of Treatment Effect in Advanced NSCLC. JCO Precis Oncol. 2021; 5.  View on PubMed

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