Daniel A. Laheru

DANIEL A. LAHERU, MD, the inaugural Ian T. MacMillan Professor of Clinical Pancreatic Cancer Research, is professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the clinical director, Division of Gastrointestinal Oncology and co-director, Skip Viragh Center for Pancreas Cancer Clinical Research and Patient Care. He specializes in translational research into the development of new therapies in pancreatic cancer.

In collaboration with Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee, he has developed clinical studies to optimize an immune therapy approach using GM-CSF transfected pancreatic cell lines as a vaccine in two distinct patient populations. First, the vaccine has been integrated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy in patients with resected pancreatic cancer who are at risk for disease recurrence. Second, the vaccine has been integrated with novel molecular targeted drugs such as EGFR inhibitors and anti-CTLA-4 antibody and with immune modulating doses of Cytoxan in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. He has also incorporated correlative studies that should provide important information to better understand optimal vaccine boosting schedules as well as to identify antigens that can be predictive markers for anti-pancreatic cancer immune responses.

In collaboration with Dr. Chris Iacobuzio-Donahue, he is investigating mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in pancreatic cancer. In collaboration with Dr. Anirban Maitra and Dr. William Matsui he is investigating small molecule drugs that target pancreatic cancer growth and pancreatic stroma pathways and pancreatic cancer progenitor cells. In collaboration with Dr. Joe Herman in Radiation Oncology as well as Drs. John Cameron, Rich Schulick, Barish Edil, Chris Wolfgang, Tim Pawlik, and Mike Choti in Surgical Oncology, he is testing new therapies in resectable and locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

In collaboration with Dr. Chi Dang, he is developing new targets that inhibit cancer metabolism.

A graduate of the University of Utah, Dr. Laheru received his medical degree from the Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his residency at the University of Utah School of Medicine and completed his fellowship in medical oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.