Ensign Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pharmacology, Chief of Medical Oncology, Director of the Yale SPORE in Lung Cancer, and Associate Director for Translational Research at Yale Cancer Center (YCC) and Yale School of Medicine.
Dr. Herbst has worked over several decades as a pioneer of personalized medicine and immunotherapy to identify biomarkers and bring novel targeted treatments and immunotherapies to patients, serving as principal investigator for numerous clinical trials testing these agents in advanced stage lung cancers. This work led to the approval of several therapies (such as gefitinib, cetuximab, bevacizumab, axitinib, atezolizumab, and pembrolizumab), which have revolutionized the field and greatly enhanced patient survival. His work on “umbrella” trials has galvanized the field of targeted therapy and cancer drug approvals at the FDA. Nationally, he is at the forefront of personalized medicine and works closely with public-private partnerships to develop large clinical studies, such as Lung-MAP. The NCI Lung SPORE he leads has identified new mechanisms of sensitivity and resistance to immunotherapy.