Luis Alberto Diaz, Jr. is the Head of the Division of Solid Tumor
Oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...
in
Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Department of Medicine.
Education and career
Diaz earned his undergraduate and medical degree at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
and
Michigan Medicine
Michigan Medicine (University of Michigan Health System or UMHS before 2017) is the wholly owned academic medical center of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Michigan Medicine includes the Universi ...
, respectively. He completed his residency in internal medicine and medical oncology fellowship at
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hospi ...
.
Diaz was a faculty member in the Department of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
He was also a member of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics at Johns Hopkins, where he worked with colleagues
Bert Vogelstein
Bert Vogelstein (born 1949) is director of the Ludwig Center, Clayton Professor of Oncology and Pathology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at The Johns Hopkins Medical School and Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. A pion ...
,
Kenneth Kinzler, Nickolas Papadopoulos,
Victor Velculescu
Victor E. Velculescu (born August 16, 1970) is a Professor of Oncology and Co-Director of Cancer Biology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is internationally known for his discoveries in genomics and cancer research.
Early lif ...
and Shibin Zhou.
He was also head of the
Swim Across America
Swim Across America Inc., (SAA) is a nonprofit dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention, and treatment. It does so by hosting charity swims and donating the proceeds to a hospital. Since its founding, SAA has gr ...
Laboratory at Johns Hopkins.
In 2017, Diaz became Head of the Solid Tumor Oncology division at Memorial Sloan Kettering. The same year, he was selected to lead the
Stand Up to Cancer
Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) is a charitable program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF). SU2C aims to raise significant funds for translational cancer research through online and televised efforts. Central to the program is a telethon tha ...
“Dream Team” against
colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...
. Diaz has founded several companies that focus on genomic analyses of cancers, including Inostics, PapGene, and Personal Genome Diagnostics. Diaz was named to the Board of Directors of Jounce Therapeutics in 2017.
Diaz was elected to the
National Academy of Medicine
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, En ...
in 2023.
Research
Diaz researched the development of a
liquid biopsy
A liquid biopsy, also known as fluid biopsy or fluid phase biopsy, is the sampling and analysis of non-solid biological tissue, primarily blood. Like traditional biopsy, this type of technique is mainly used as a diagnostic and monitoring tool for ...
that can be used to test for the presence of cancer and to monitor its response to therapy. Also while at Hopkins, he and his colleagues developed a
Pap smear
The Papanicolaou test (abbreviated as Pap test, also known as Pap smear (AE), cervical smear (BE), cervical screening (BE), or smear test (BE)) is a method of cervical screening used to detect potentially precancerous and cancerous processes in t ...
to detect early-stage
ovarian
The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. T ...
and
endometrial cancer
Endometrial cancer is a cancer that arises from the endometrium (the lining of the uterus or womb). It is the result of the abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. The first sign is most o ...
s. He also led a study of
pembrolizumab
Pembrolizumab, sold under the brand name Keytruda, is a humanized antibody used in cancer immunotherapy that treats melanoma, lung cancer, head and neck cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, stomach cancer, cervical cancer, and certain types of breast canc ...
to target
tumors
A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
that share a particular
biomarker
In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, ...
called
mismatch repair deficiency
DNA mismatch repair (MMR) is a system for recognizing and repairing erroneous insertion, deletion, and mis-incorporation of bases that can arise during DNA replication and recombination, as well as repairing some forms of DNA damage.
Mismatch ...
.
It was the first
FDA
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food s ...
approval for a cancer treatment based on a biomarker rather than the location in the body where the tumor originated.
Awards
*
American Association for Cancer Research
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's oldest and largest professional association related to cancer research. Based in Philadelphia, the AACR focuses on all aspects of cancer research, including basic, clinical, and t ...
Team Science Award (2013 for pancreatic cancer sequencing)
* American Association for Cancer Research Team Science Award (2014 for malignant brain tumors)
* American Association for Cancer Research Team Science Award (2017 for liquid biopsy initiative)
* Member,
American Society for Clinical Investigation
The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States.
Organization and purpose
The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 ph ...
(2018)
See also
*
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Luis A.
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American oncologists
University of Michigan Medical School alumni
Members of the National Academy of Medicine
Biden administration personnel