Academic History

Pasai Jänne, MD, PhD, is Senior Vice President for Translational Medicine, Director of the Chen-Huang Center for EGFR Mutant Lung Cancers, and Scientific Director of the Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA. He is also a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

Prof. Jänne received his MD and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, and a fellowship in Hematology & Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Prof. Jänne has received several awards for his work from organizations including the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the European Society for Medical Oncology, and is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the American Association of Physicians, and the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.

Speaking on genomic alterations and targeted therapies in lung cancer

Prof. Jänne’s work in lung cancer focuses on studying the molecular biology and genomic alterations in lung cancer, investigating sensitivity and resistance to kinase inhibitors. He has extensively studied the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and has made seminal contributions in this field, having been a co-discoverer of EGFR mutations and their role in driving some lung cancers. His research has subsequently investigated mechanisms of primary and acquired resistance to targeted therapies to identify strategies to overcome this, including though next-generation kinase inhibitors and combination therapies.