Research Summary

Laura Esserman, MD, MBA, an internationally recognized breast surgeon, breast oncology specialist, and visionary in personalized medicine, is revolutionizing breast cancer screening and treatment throughout our nation today.

As a Professor of Surgery and Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Director of the UCSF Breast Care Center, Dr. Esserman's breast cancer work spans a spectrum from basic science to public policy issues and the impact of both on the delivery of clinical care. She is a provocative thought leader calling attention to and finding solutions for over-diagnosis and over-treatment of breast cancer, especially of DCIS.

Since 2002, Dr. Esserman has led the I-SPY TRIALS, a ground-breaking national public-private collaboration among NCI, FDA, more than 20 cancer research centers, and major pharma, biotech companies, and the not for profit sponsor, Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative. This trial model, which has now become an international model for translational research, designed to shave several years and tens of millions of dollars off the drug development process. The trial paradigm is now being developed for use in other disease domains, and she recently got FDA approval for an I-SPY Covid trial, designed to rapidly screen and confirm high impact treatments to reduce mortality and time on ventilators.

Additionally, Dr. Esserman led the creation of the University of California-wide Athena Breast Health Network, a learning system designed to integrate clinical care and research as it follows 150,000 women from screening through treatment and outcomes. As part of the network, she has spearheaded the development of the WISDOM study to learn how to improve breast cancer screening by testing and comparing the safety and efficacy of a personalized screening strategy informed by each woman's breast cancer risk and preferences against the standard of annual screening.

Dr. Esserman is a passionate and persistent advocate for her patients. She is keenly aware that many of her patients don't have 10 years to wait for the right treatment options. Her work is dedicated to accelerating the development of targeted, effective prevention and treatment options that can make a difference at the time when they are needed the most. Through these efforts, Dr. Esserman is helping to reshape the healthcare system, and changing it from a general population approach to a personalized and patient-centered care model.

Dr. Esserman has published more than 300 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and is regularly consulted by prestigious scientific, business, and consumer media including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Health Magazine, Prevention Magazine, The Newshour, ABC World News, the NBC Nightly News, the CBS Evening News, and NPR's Science Friday.

Dr. Esserman was included as one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2016, and was the recipient of the 2016 Stanford Business School Ernest C. Arbuckle Award and the 2016 Personalized Medicine World Conference Pioneer and Luminary Award. The San Francisco Business Times honored her with the Most Influential Women in Business Awards for 2018, and she also received the 2018 Giant of Cancer Care® in Cancer Diagnostics award.

Research Funding

  • July 15, 2020 - June 30, 2025 - Surgical Oncology Training Grant , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: T32CA251070
  • March 1, 2020 - February 28, 2025 - Extending the Diversity, Reach, and Generalizability of the WISDOM Study , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA237533
  • September 8, 2017 - August 31, 2022 - I-SPY2 +: Evolving the I-SPY 2 TRIAL to include MRI-directed, adaptive sequential treatment to optimize breast cancer outcomes , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: P01CA210961
  • September 16, 2015 - August 31, 2021 - Elucidating the molecular and contextual basis for IDLE ultralow risk lesions and the tumor immune microenvironment of high risk in situ and invasive breast cancers , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: U01CA196406

Education

Harvard University, A.B., 1977, History of Science
Stanford University, M.D., 1983, Surgery
Stanford University, School of Business, M.B.A., 1993, Health Policy

Honors & Awards

(partial list)

  • 2010
    CaBIG Advancing Innovation Award, Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid
  • 2013
    Honors & invited plenary speech, "Risk- Based Screening and Prevention of Cancer as a Solution to Over-Diagnosis and Over-Treatment.” Women in Science Program Conference
  • 2013
    San Francisco American Cancer Society Soiree honors
  • 2014
    Award for Outstanding Achievement in Women’s Health, Journal of Women’s Health
  • 2014
    Award for excellence in translational oncology. 10th “Industry/Academia Translational Oncology” Symposium, Moores UCSD Cancer Center
  • 2016
    Stanford Graduate School of Business Earnest C. Arbuckle Award
  • 2016
    Personalized Medicine World Conference Luminary Award
  • 2016
    TIME 100 List of Most Influential People in the World
  • 2018
    20 Most Influential Moms of 2018, Family Circle
  • 2018
    OncLive Giants of Cancer Care Award from OncLive
  • 2020
    Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction in Clinical Research from Susan G. Komen

 

Selected Publications

  1. Parker BA, Shatsky RA, Schwab RB, Wallace AM, I-SPY 2 Consortium, Wolf DM, Hirst GL, Brown-Swigart L, Esserman LJ, van 't Veer LJ, Ghia EM, Yau C, Kipps TJ. Association of baseline ROR1 and ROR2 gene expression with clinical outcomes in the I-SPY2 neoadjuvant breast cancer trial. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2023 Apr 08.  View on PubMed
  2. Badal K, Lee CM, Esserman LJ. Guiding principles for the responsible development of artificial intelligence tools for healthcare. Commun Med (Lond). 2023 Apr 01; 3(1):47.  View on PubMed
  3. Chitalia R, Miliotis M, Jahani N, Tastsoglou S, McDonald ES, Belenky V, Cohen EA, Newitt D, Van't Veer LJ, Esserman L, Hylton N, DeMichele A, Hatzigeorgiou A, Kontos D. Radiomic tumor phenotypes augment molecular profiling in predicting recurrence free survival after breast neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Commun Med (Lond). 2023 Mar 30; 3(1):46.  View on PubMed
  4. Nguyen HP, Sheng R, Murray E, Ito Y, Bruck M, Biellak C, An K, Lynce F, Dillon DA, Magbanua MJM, Huppert LA, Hammerlindl H, Esserman L, Rosenbluth JM, Ahituv N. Implantation of engineered adipocytes that outcompete tumors for resources suppresses cancer progression. bioRxiv. 2023 Mar 29.  View on PubMed
  5. Mukhtar RA, Esserman LJ. Time to Surgery in Breast Cancer-Is Faster Always Better? JAMA Surg. 2023 Mar 01.  View on PubMed
  6. Esserman LJ, Ali H, McKenzie T. When Less Can Be More: How the 10-Year Updated Results From the Randomized Controlled AMAROS Trial Should Affect Axillary Management in the Setting of a Positive Node. J Clin Oncol. 2023 Apr 20; 41(12):2144-2150.  View on PubMed
  7. Mukhtar RA, Yau C, Esserman LJ. Prognostic Significance of Residual Ductal Carcinoma In Situ After Complete Response of Invasive Breast Cancer to Neoadjuvant Therapy-Reply. JAMA Surg. 2023 Feb 22.  View on PubMed
  8. Barnes LL, Foster R, Mukhtar RA, Esserman LJ, Ewing C, Alvarado M, Wong J, Piper M. Expanding Candidacy for Nipple-sparing Mastectomy in Women with Large or Ptotic Breasts: Staged Reconstruction Outcomes. Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2023 Jan; 11(1):e4767.  View on PubMed
  9. Magbanua MJM, van 't Veer L, Clark AS, Chien AJ, Boughey JC, Han HS, Wallace A, Beckwith H, Liu MC, Yau C, Wileyto EP, Ordonez A, Solanki TI, Hsiao F, Lee JC, Basu A, Brown Swigart L, Perlmutter J, Delson AL, Bayne L, Deluca S, Yee SS, Carpenter EL, Esserman LJ, Park JW, Chodosh LA, DeMichele A. Outcomes and clinicopathologic characteristics associated with disseminated tumor cells in bone marrow after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in high-risk early stage breast cancer: the I-SPY SURMOUNT study. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2023 Apr; 198(2):383-390.  View on PubMed
  10. Glencer AC, Miller PN, Greenwood H, Maldonado Rodas CK, Freimanis R, Basu A, Mukhtar RA, Brabham C, Kim P, Hwang ES, Rosenbluth JM, Hirst GL, Campbell MJ, Borowsky AD, Esserman LJ. Identifying Good Candidates for Active Surveillance of Ductal Carcinoma In Situ: Insights from a Large Neoadjuvant Endocrine Therapy Cohort. Cancer Res Commun. 2022 Dec; 2(12):1579-1589.  View on PubMed
  11. Lang JE, Forero-Torres A, Yee D, Yau C, Wolf D, Park J, Parker BA, Chien AJ, Wallace AM, Murthy R, Albain KS, Ellis ED, Beckwith H, Haley BB, Elias AD, Boughey JC, Yung RL, Isaacs C, Clark AS, Han HS, Nanda R, Khan QJ, Edmiston KK, Stringer-Reasor E, Price E, Joe B, Liu MC, Brown-Swigart L, Petricoin EF, Wulfkuhle JD, Buxton M, Clennell JL, Sanil A, Berry S, Asare SM, Wilson A, Hirst GL, Singhrao R, Asare AL, Matthews JB, Melisko M, Perlmutter J, Rugo HS, Symmans WF, van 't Veer LJ, Hylton NM, DeMichele AM, Berry DA, Esserman LJ. Safety and efficacy of HSP90 inhibitor ganetespib for neoadjuvant treatment of stage II/III breast cancer. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2022 Dec 01; 8(1):128.  View on PubMed
  12. Lee JV, Housley F, Yau C, Nakagawa R, Winkler J, Anttila JM, Munne PM, Savelius M, Houlahan KE, Van de Mark D, Hemmati G, Hernandez GA, Zhang Y, Samson S, Baas C, Kok M, Esserman LJ, van 't Veer LJ, Rugo HS, Curtis C, Klefström J, Matloubian M, Goga A. Author Correction: Combinatorial immunotherapies overcome MYC-driven immune evasion in triple negative breast cancer. Nat Commun. 2022 Nov 21; 13(1):7140.  View on PubMed
  13. Osdoit M, Yau C, Symmans WF, Boughey JC, Ewing CA, Balassanian R, Chen YY, Krings G, Wallace AM, Zare S, Fadare O, Lancaster R, Wei S, Godellas CV, Tang P, Tuttle TM, Klein M, Sahoo S, Hieken TJ, Carter JM, Chen B, Ahrendt G, Tchou J, Feldman M, Tousimis E, Zeck J, Jaskowiak N, Sattar H, Naik AM, Lee MC, Rosa M, Khazai L, Rendi MH, Lang JE, Lu J, Tawfik O, Asare SM, Esserman LJ, Mukhtar RA. Association of Residual Ductal Carcinoma In Situ With Breast Cancer Recurrence in the Neoadjuvant I-SPY2 Trial. JAMA Surg. 2022 Nov 01; 157(11):1034-1041.  View on PubMed
  14. Files DC, Esserman L, Liu KD, Calfee CS. Informed consent process in the ISPY COVID trial is ethically acceptable. Eur J Intern Med. 2022 Sep 30.  View on PubMed
  15. Labbate CV, Klotz L, Morrow M, Cooperberg M, Esserman L, Eggener SE. Focal Therapy for Prostate Cancer: Evolutionary Parallels to Breast Cancer Treatment. J Urol. 2023 01; 209(1):49-57.  View on PubMed
  16. Li W, Le NN, Onishi N, Newitt DC, Wilmes LJ, Gibbs JE, Carmona-Bozo J, Liang J, Partridge SC, Price ER, Joe BN, Kornak J, Magbanua MJM, Nanda R, LeStage B, Esserman LJ, Van't Veer LJ, Hylton NM. Diffusion-Weighted MRI for Predicting Pathologic Complete Response in Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy. Cancers (Basel). 2022 Sep 13; 14(18).  View on PubMed
  17. Johansson A, Dar H, van 't Veer LJ, Tobin NP, Perez-Tenorio G, Nordenskjöld A, Johansson U, Hartman J, Skoog L, Yau C, Benz CC, Esserman LJ, Stål O, Nordenskjöld B, Fornander T, Lindström LS. Twenty-Year Benefit From Adjuvant Goserelin and Tamoxifen in Premenopausal Patients With Breast Cancer in a Controlled Randomized Clinical Trial. J Clin Oncol. 2022 Dec 10; 40(35):4071-4082.  View on PubMed
  18. Noordhoek I, Bastiaannet E, de Glas NA, Scheepens J, Esserman LJ, Wesseling J, Scholten AN, Schröder CP, Elias SG, Kroep JR, Portielje JEA, Kleijn M, Liefers GJ. Validation of the 70-gene signature test (MammaPrint) to identify patients with breast cancer aged ≥ 70 years with ultralow risk of distant recurrence: A population-based cohort study. J Geriatr Oncol. 2022 11; 13(8):1172-1177.  View on PubMed
  19. Esserman LJ, Parker BA, LaCroix AZ. Why It Is Time to Challenge Entrenched Beliefs About Breast Cancer Screening. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2022 07; 31(7):903-904.  View on PubMed
  20. Lee JV, Housley F, Yau C, Nakagawa R, Winkler J, Anttila JM, Munne PM, Savelius M, Houlahan KE, Van de Mark D, Hemmati G, Hernandez GA, Zhang Y, Samson S, Baas C, Kok M, Esserman LJ, van 't Veer LJ, Rugo HS, Curtis C, Klefström J, Matloubian M, Goga A. Combinatorial immunotherapies overcome MYC-driven immune evasion in triple negative breast cancer. Nat Commun. 2022 06 27; 13(1):3671.  View on PubMed

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