Powel H. Brown MD, PhD

Powel Brown is a medical oncologist and physician-scientist specializing in breast cancer treatment and prevention at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he is Chair of the Department of Clinical Cancer Prevention. He is conducting studies to identify novel targets for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer, particularly estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer. Over the last year, his team conducted a BCRF-funded clinical trial of the kinase inhibitor lapatinib for the treatment of women with DCIS breast cancer. The results from this study will demonstrate whether lapatinib suppresses the growth of DCIS cells, and will be used to plan future DCIS breast cancer clinical trials to prevent the development of invasive breast cancer.

Dr. Brown is also conducting preclinical studies of the signaling molecules in breast cancer with a particular focus on identifying the molecular drivers of "triple-negative" breast cancers. His research group has successfully identified several signaling pathways critical for breast cancer growth and development. In his current BCRF project, Dr. Brown is studying the death-associated protein kinase DAPK1, which his team has identified as one of the most highly expressed kinases in ER-negative breast cancer.