Breast Cancer Research Program

The Breast Cancer Research Program has 25 members, 20 research and five clinical members including multidisciplinary investigators focusing on the biology, genetics, molecular pathology, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of breast cancer. Several faculty are also key members of other cancer center programs, ensuring inter-programmatic in addition to intra-programmatic interactions. Our program members are located in several clinical and basic science departments, including the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center, a major component of our program.

Our clinical research program is robust and has had national and international recognition. Our portfolio includes investigator-initiated trials, trials directed by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium, the American College of Surgeons, and industry-supported trials. Investigators from the Breast Cancer Program have leadership positions in these groups and have lead several important trials. These trials have an impact locally, nationally and globally on the science and clinical management of breast cancer as well as survivorship and quality of life.

The Breast Cancer Program is home to Baylor’s federally funded Specialized Program in Research Excellence (SPORE) in breast cancer. This highly collaborative grant the oldest and longest funded SPORE, and scientific findings from its projects have been translated into impactful therapeutic and prevention trials.

The main goals of the Breast Program are to advance the understanding of breast cancer development leading to better prevention and treatment of breast cancer, to translate laboratory discoveries to clinical practice, to facilitate intra-programmatic and inter-programmatic interactions, and to provide an enriched learning environment for students and post-doctoral medical and laboratory-based trainees. Within that framework, there are research programs focused in the areas of stem cell biology, therapeutic resistance, cross-talk, and cell signaling pathways and metastasis with an increasing emphasis on understanding the role of the immune microenvironment.

The Breast Cancer Research Program shares common interests and has significant interactions with several other cancer center programs including Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, Nuclear Receptor Transcription and Chromatin Biology, and Cancer Cell and Gene Therapy.