Dr. Anish Thomas, Senior Investigator, NCI

Dr. Anish Thomas is currently a Senior Investigator and Lasker Clinical Research Scholar in the Developmental Therapeutics Branch of the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research in Bethesda, MD. He completed his medical school with Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees from the St. John’s Medical College in Bangalore, India in 2002. He completed residency in internal medicine at the same institute in 2005, leading to the award of Doctor of Medicine. He moved to the United States to work in the laboratories of Bernard J. Poiesz and Dipak Dube at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY, investigating HTLV1 screening of blood donors and the mechanisms that regulate embryonic and post-embryonic cardiac development using Mexican axolotl as a model. He completed residency in internal medicine at Upstate Medical University in 2010, after which, he moved to Bethesda to pursue fellowships in medical oncology and hematology at the NCI and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

His career commitment as a medical oncologist is to improve the lives of patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), the most fatal and highly metastatic form of lung cancer which kills at least 200,000 people globally each year. He leads a group that is recognized for translating basic science into clinically meaningful advances by bringing together the molecular characterization of SCLC and multiple clinical trials. Key discoveries from his group, using on a bed-to-bench-side approach to translational research (Cancer Cell 2022), include: (i) revealing replication stress as a transformative vulnerability of SCLCs characterized by high neuroendocrine differentiation (Cancer Cell 2021), (ii) providing novel insights into the genomic and transcriptomic features that render low neuroendocrine SCLC more sensitive to immunotherapy (Nat Commun 2021), (iii) validating ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related as a tractable SCLC target (J Clin Oncol 2018, JAMA Oncol 2023, Clin Cance Res 2023), (iv) discovery of a novel SCLC subset defined by the germline genotype and improved responses to DNA repair targeted drugs (Sci Trans Med 2021), (v) highlighting the transcriptional complexity of SCLC patient tumors in relation to patient-derived xenografts (Nat Commun 2022), and (vi) discovery of extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) as a new mechanism that governs MYC-driven SCLC heterogeneity (Cancer Discovery, 2023).

Dr. Thomas is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and his work has been recognized by multiple NCI Director’s Awards for Clinical and Translational Science, and the PECASE Award, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.

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OBJECTIVES

At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to:

• Evaluate the role of tumor heterogeneity in treatment failure in metastatic cancers
• Explain the power of patient-focused studies to inform tumor biology

FACULTY DISCLOSURE:
Dr. Anish Thomas has indicated he has the following relationships:

• Research funding: EMD Serono, Prolynx, Tarveda, Immunomedics

PLANNING COMMITTEE DISCLOSURE:

Dr. Lazaros Lekakis, Associate Professor, Division of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, has indicated that he has no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests.

TARGET AUDIENCE:
Faculty, Primary Care Physicians, APRNs, PharmD

ACCREDITATION:
The University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

CREDIT DESIGNATION:
The University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 1.0 MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.