Dr. Matthew L. Meyerson is a distinguished leader in cancer genomics and precision oncology, holding the Charles A. Dana Chair in Human Cancer Genetics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He serves as Director of the Center for Cancer Genomics at Dana-Farber and Director of Cancer Genomics at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he is also an Institute Member. After earning both his MD and PhD from Harvard University in 1993 and 1994 respectively, he completed a clinical pathology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a research fellowship with Dr. Robert Weinberg at the Whitehead Institute. Dr. Meyerson joined the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute faculty in 1998, establishing his laboratory with a dedicated focus on applying genomic approaches to understand the molecular basis of human cancers.
Dr. Meyerson pioneered the discovery of EGFR mutations in lung cancer that predict responsiveness to EGFR inhibitors, fundamentally transforming the paradigm of precision cancer therapy and establishing the foundation for targeted treatment approaches in oncology. His laboratory co-developed innovative mathematical tools for pathogen discovery in human tissue, successfully identifying human papillomavirus in cervical cells, and later collaborated on landmark studies demonstrating that lung cancers with specific EGFR mutations respond dramatically to gefitinib therapy. In 2007, he published a groundbreaking method for large-panel testing of DNA mutations that directly led to the establishment of Foundation Medicine, and served as principal investigator for The Cancer Genome Atlas project where his team identified somatic mutations in immune regulators and splicing factors in lung cancer. These seminal contributions have enabled clinicians to match patients with targeted therapies based on their tumor's genetic profile, dramatically improving outcomes for lung cancer patients worldwide.
As a principal investigator for The Cancer Genome Atlas and co-chair of its executive committee, Dr. Meyerson has shaped the global landscape of cancer genomics research while mentoring a generation of leading cancer researchers. His laboratory continues to advance the field through whole-genome sequencing approaches focused on understanding genomic alterations beyond the coding genome, with recent emphasis on DNA alterations modifying gene expression through enhancer rearrangements. Recognized with numerous prestigious honors including election to the National Academy of Medicine in 2018, the Alfred G. Knudson Award in Cancer Genetics in 2019, and the Han-Mo Koo Memorial Award in 2016, he remains at the forefront of cancer genomics research. Currently, Dr. Meyerson's work focuses on kinase signaling, splicing alterations, and inflammatory pathways in lung cancer, continuing his mission to translate genomic discoveries into effective cancer treatments that target malignant cells while sparing healthy tissue.
