This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and William P. Harris, MD, associate professor of medicine for the University of Washington School of Medicine and a medical oncologist at Fred Hutch.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Harris is a GI medical oncologist with a main research focus on hepatobiliary oncology. Specific areas of interest include interventional trials targeting therapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and biliary tract cancers, and retrospective and prospective analyses assessing translational biomarkers and imaging features, which might predict response to systemic therapeutic interventions and combinations of local therapeutics and systemic therapy in treating liver tumors. Additional areas of involvement include medical education in medical oncology for pre-clinical medical school students, global health teaching, collaboration with the Uganda Cancer Institute, and involvement with patient advocacy foundations that optimize use of resources to facilitate research and patient care for patients with GI malignancies.

Educational Background

• Medical School: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
• Residency: University of Washington, Internal Medicine
• Fellowship: University of Washington, Medical Oncology

Little-Known Facts

• I am an avid soccer player (and getting back into tennis in the COVID era).
• I won a Hummer2 vehicle during my last year of residency by being automatically entered into a sweepstakes from buying groceries.
• I was an ER attending for 3 years at our Level 1 trauma center while my wife, an infectious disease specialist at UW working on virology, completed her fellowship.

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.