Harriet Kluger, M.D., professor of medicine (medical oncology), has been named to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI). Kluger joins nearly 60 other ASCI members with Yale affiliations.
The ASCI comprises more than 3,000 physician-scientists from all medical specialties recognized for outstanding records of scholarly achievement in biomedical research. The organization is dedicated to advancing research that extends understanding and improves the treatment of human diseases. Members are committed to mentoring future generations of physician-scientists.
“I have been incredibly privileged to be a faculty member at Yale since finishing fellowship,” Kluger said. “Yale Cancer Center has provided a perfect environment for conducting translational research studies and has enabled me to receive this honor.”
Kluger has played a major role in advances using immunotherapy for melanoma and kidney cancer. Her translational research has been at the forefront of biomarker development for immune and targeted therapies, and she has made important contributions to tumor profiling studies of drug targets and mediators of sensitivity/resistance.
Yale Cancer Center has provided a perfect environment for conducting translational research studies and has enabled me to receive this honor.
Dr. Harriet Kluger
She has led Yale’s efforts to study brain metastasis by opening investigator-initiated clinical trials and engaging basic science researchers interested in the tumor microenvironment in the brain, including immunologists and neuroscientists, said Roy Herbst, M.D., Ensign Professor of Medicine (medical oncology); and chief of medical oncology at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven.
“Dr. Kluger is one of the physicians who challenged the paradigm that has excluded brain metastasis patients from trials for new systemic therapies prior to FDA approval. She has lobbied for earlier access to new therapies for these patients and for tailoring clinical trials to accommodate their needs,” Herbst said “Her lab developed new models to enhance studies of brain metastases, work that should lead to important advances in this rapidly-evolving field that is just now starting to encompass other diseases.”