This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member Penn Medicine Abramson Cancer Center and Naomi Haas, MD, Director of Kidney and Prostate Cancer Clinical Research at Penn Medicine and Associate Professor of Medicine at the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Haas is an international expert in the conduct and design of adjuvant clinical trials for kidney cancer and a national expert in prostate and kidney cancer therapeutics. Dr. Haas is an institutional principal investigator for the HCRN study GU16-260, “Phase II study of front line therapy with nivolumab and salvage nivolumab + ipilimumab in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma,” and participated in GU16-257, “Neoadjuvant gemcitabine, cisplatin, plus nivolumab in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer with selective bladder sparing.”

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Haas’ research interests include early phase cancer clinical trials in kidney cancer, prostate cancer, and studying emerging treatment plans including those that use CAR T-Cell therapy, immune checkpoint inhibition, angiogenesis, and epigenetics. She also gained experience in retrotransposon, a type of genetic component that copies and pastes itself in different genomic locations by converting RNA back to DNA, through her early work in a basic science lab at Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Educational Background

• Medical School: Northeast Ohio University College of Medicine (NEOMED)
• Residency: Abington-Jefferson Health
• Fellowships: Medical Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center and Temple University Hospital

Little-Known Facts

• I can ride a unicycle.
• I lived in El Salvador and Lesotho during part of my childhood.
• I finished 15 marathons.

About Hoosier Cancer Research Network:

Hoosier Cancer Research Network (formerly known as Hoosier Oncology Group) conducts innovative cancer research in collaboration with academic and community physicians and scientists across the United States. The organization provides comprehensive clinical trial management and support, from conception through publication. Created in 1984 as a program of the Walther Cancer Institute, Hoosier Cancer Research Network became an independent nonprofit clinical research organization in 2007. Since its founding, Hoosier Cancer Research Network has conducted more than 210 trials in a variety of cancer types and supportive care, resulting in more than 350 publications. More than 8,500 subjects have participated in Hoosier Cancer Research Network clinical trials.