Bridget Keenan, MD, PhD | UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center

Research Summary

Dr. Keenan completed her MD and PhD at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she focused on using cancer vaccines to overcome immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment in mouse models of pancreatic cancer. She completed her Internal Medicine residency and Hematology/Oncology fellowship at UCSF. During her fellowship, she trained in both gastrointestinal oncology and cancer immunotherapy. She is the Co-Director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Program and Medical Director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Clinic. Her research interests are in studying the mechanisms of response and resistance to immunotherapy, with a focus on gastrointestinal cancers. Clinically, she sees patients with solid tumor malignancies being treated with cutting-edge immunotherapies including cell therapies and T cell engagers.

Education

Loyola University, BS, 2006, Biology, Chemistry
Johns Hopkins University, MD, PhD, 2015, Medicine, Immunology
University of California San Francisco, Residency, 2017, Internal Medicine
University of California San Francisco, Fellowship, Hematology/Oncology

Honors & Awards

2024
UCSF Society of Hellman Fellows
2022
ImFLAME Young Investigator Award
2022
HDFCCC K12 Physician Scholar Program in Clinical Oncology Career Development Award
2022
UCSF Liver Center Liver Center Pilot/Feasibility Grant Awardee
2022
HDFCCC Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Pilot Grant Awardee
2021
UCSF Chancellor Award for Advancement of Women
2021
The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation Research Fellowship Award
2020
UCSF Exceptional Physician Award Honorable Mention
2020
ANCO (Association of Northern California Oncologists) Travel Award
2020
ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award
2020
Society for Translational Oncology Fellows’ Forum, selected participant
2019
Scholar-in-Training Award, AACR Annual Meeting 2019
2018-2019
UCSF Fellowship Leadership Cohort
2018, 2019
Immunology T32 training grant recipient
2018
UCSF Academy of Medical Educators Innovations Funding for Education Grant Awardee
2018
AACR Molecular Biology in Clinical Oncology course participant
2017
UCSF Excellence and Innovation Award in Graduate Medical Education for developing WILD (Women in Leadership Development) annual symposium

Selected Publications

Ko AH, Chao J, Noel MS, Shankaran V, Sohal D, Crow M, Oberstein PE, Scott AJ, McRee AJ, Rocha Lima CMSP, Fong L, Keenan BP, Soto M, Filbert EL, Hsu FJ, Yang X. A Phase 2 Study of Sotigalimab, a CD40 Agonist Antibody, Plus Concurrent Chemoradiation as Neoadjuvant Therapy for Esophageal and Gastroesophageal Junction Cancers. Cancer Res Commun. 2025 Feb 05. View on PubMed
Bridget P. Keenan, Christopher Hanyoung Lieu, Marwan Fakih, Alan P. Venook, Dongqi Chen, Eric Keith Rowinsky, Victor Lu, Lei Xiao, Benjamin L. Schlechter. A phase 1 dose-escalation study of GCC19CART: A novel CAR T-cell therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer in the United States. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2025 Jan 27; 43(4_suppl):175-175. View on PubMed
Benjamin L. Schlechter, Christopher Hanyoung Lieu, Marwan Fakih, Rishi Surana, Dongqi Chen, Lucy Lu, Eric Keith Rowinsky, Victor Lu, Lei Xiao, Kimmie Ng, Bridget P. Keenan. A phase 1 dose escalation study of a novel coupled CAR T cell therapy, GCC19CART, for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2024 Jun 1; 42(16_suppl):e15572-e15572. View on PubMed
Siqing Fu, Sarina A. Piha-Paul, Shivani Singh, Jing Peng, Bridget P. Keenan, Jay M. Mei, Kevin Lynch, Ling Li, Ming Song, Xiaojing (Amily) Zhang. A first-in-human phase I study of ATG-031, anti-CD24 antibody, in patients with advanced solid tumors or B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (PERFORM). Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2024 May 29; 42(16_suppl):tps2691-tps2691. View on PubMed
Ashley Hamilton, Robin Kate Kelley, Daneng Li, Ignacio Melero Bermejo, Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, Olatunji B. Alese, Raed Moh'd Taiseer Al-Rajabi, Hani M. Babiker, Mitesh Borad, Farshid Dayyani, Martin Gutierrez, Jung Yong Hong, Lionel Aurelien Kankeu Fonkoua, Thomas Benjamin Karasic, Adel Kardosh, Bridget P. Keenan, Anne M. Noonan, Anwaar Saeed, Attilio Bondanza, John Stone. ATHENA: A phase 1/2 study of AZD5851, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy directed against GPC3 in adult patients with advanced/recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2024 May 29; 42(16_suppl):tps2675-tps2675. View on PubMed
Bridget P. Keenan, Christopher H. Lieu, Marwan Fakih, Dongqi Chen, Lucy Lu, Eric Rowinsky, Victor Lu, Lei Xiao, Alan P. Venook, Benjamin Schlechter. Abstract CT129: A phase 1 dose escalation study of a novel coupled CAR T cell therapy, GCC19CART, for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Cancer Research. 2024 Apr 5; 84(7_Supplement):ct129-ct129. View on PubMed
McGourty CA, Castillo F, Donzelli G, Keenan BP, Gilbreth M, Santhosh L. Creation of a sustainable longitudinal women in Leadership Development (WILD) curriculum focused on graduate medical education trainees. BMC Med Educ. 2024 Apr 05; 24(1):374. View on PubMed
Le P, Gong X, Ung L, Yang H, Keenan BP, Zhang L, He T. A robust ensemble feature selection approach to prioritize genes associated with survival outcome in high-dimensional gene expression data. Front Syst Biol. 2024; 4. View on PubMed
Keenan BP, Sibley A, Zhang L, Westring AF, Velazquez AI, Bank EM, Bergsland EK, Boreta L, Conroy P, Daras M, Hermiston M, Hsu G, Paris PL, Piawah S, Sinha S, Sosa JA, Tsang M, Venook AP, Wong M, Yom SS, Van Loon K. Evaluation of Culture Conducive to Academic Success by Gender at a Comprehensive Cancer Center. Oncologist. 2024 Mar 04; 29(3):e351-e359. View on PubMed
Soto M, Filbert EL, Yang H, Starzinski S, Starzinski A, Gin M, Chen B, Le P, Li T, Bol B, Cheung A, Zhang L, Hsu FJ, Ko A, Fong L, Keenan BP. Neoadjuvant CD40 Agonism Remodels the Tumor Immune Microenvironment in Locally Advanced Esophageal/Gastroesophageal Junction Cancer. Cancer Res Commun. 2024 01 25; 4(1):200-212. View on PubMed
Emperumal CP, Villa A, Hwang C, Oh D, Fong L, Aggarwal R, Keenan BP. Oral Toxicities of PSMA-Targeted Immunotherapies for The Management of Prostate Cancer. Clin Genitourin Cancer. 2024 04; 22(2):380-384. View on PubMed
Xie E, Yeo YH, Scheiner B, Zhang Y, Hiraoka A, Tantai X, Fessas P, de Castro T, D'Alessio A, Fulgenzi CAM, Xu S, Tsai HM, Kambhampati S, Wang W, Keenan BP, Gao X, Xing Z, Pinter M, Lin YJ, Guo Z, Vogel A, Tanaka T, Kuo HY, Kelley RK, Kudo M, Yang JD, Pinato DJ, Ji F. Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors for Child-Pugh Class B Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JAMA Oncol. 2023 Oct 01; 9(10):1423-1431. View on PubMed
Gordan JD, Keenan BP, Lim HC, Yarchoan M, Kelley RK. New Opportunities to Individualize Frontline Therapy in Advanced Stages of Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Drugs. 2023 Aug; 83(12):1091-1109. View on PubMed
Anderson KG, Braun DA, Buqué A, Gitto SB, Guerriero JL, Horton B, Keenan BP, Kim TS, Overacre-Delgoffe A, Ruella M, Triplett TA, Veeranki O, Verma V, Zhang F. Leveraging immune resistance archetypes in solid cancer to inform next-generation anticancer therapies. J Immunother Cancer. 2023 06; 11(6). View on PubMed
Ana I. Velazquez Manana, Bismarck Odei, Narjust Florez, Sankalp Pandya, Valerie M Dandar, Dame Idossa, Bridget P. Keenan, Katherine Van Loon, Fumiko Chino. Should I stay, or should I go? Factors associated with intent to leave academic oncology. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2023 Jun 1; 41(16_suppl):11004-11004. View on PubMed
Keenan BP, Barr E, Gleeson E, Greenberg CC, Temkin SM. Structural Sexism and Cancer Care: The Effects on the Patient and Oncologist. Am Soc Clin Oncol Educ Book. 2023 May; 43:e391516. View on PubMed
Hewitt Chang, Luchia Andemicael, Moshiur Mekhail Anwar, John Gordan, Jamese Johnson, Bridget P Keenan, Robin Kate Kelley, Andrew H. Ko, Katherine Van Loon, Alan P. Venook, Lawrence Fong, Melody Ju Xu, Mary Uan-Sian Feng. A phase II study of hypofractionated radiation therapy to augment immune response in patients with metastatic gastrointestinal malignancies progressing on immune therapy (ARM-GI). Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2023 Feb 1; 41(4_suppl):tps817-tps817. View on PubMed
Luchia Andemicael, Hewitt Chang, Moshiur Mekhail Anwar, Kelly Bauer, John Gordan, Jamese Johnson, Bridget P Keenan, Alan P. Venook, Chia-Ching Jackie Wang, Karen Zhang, Lawrence Fong, Robin Kate Kelley, Mary Uan-Sian Feng. Phase II trial of durvalumab (MEDI4736) with/without tremelimumab for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma after palliative hypofractionated radiotherapy. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2023 Feb 1; 41(4_suppl):tps630-tps630. View on PubMed
Maira Soto, Erin L Filbert, Hai Yang, Li Zhang, Stephanie Starzinski, Alec Starzinski, Alexander Cheung, Tony Li, Frank J. Hsu, Andrew H. Ko, Lawrence Fong, Bridget P Keenan. Use of high-dimensional and spatial immune profiling to explore sotigalimab (CD40 agonist) activation of antigen presenting cells and T cells in the tumor microenvironment in patients with esophageal/gastroesophageal junction cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2023 Feb 1; 41(4_suppl):450-450. View on PubMed
Keenan BP, McCarthy EE, Ilano A, Yang H, Zhang L, Allaire K, Fan Z, Li T, Lee DS, Sun Y, Cheung A, Luong D, Chang H, Chen B, Marquez J, Sheldon B, Kelley RK, Ye CJ, Fong L. Circulating monocytes associated with anti-PD-1 resistance in human biliary cancer induce T cell paralysis. Cell Rep. 2022 09 20; 40(12):111384. View on PubMed