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    David A. Braun, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology), Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman Yale Scholar
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    Contact Info

    david.braun@yale.edu

    Yale School of Medicine

    333 Cedar St, PO Box 208028

    New Haven, CT 06520

    United States

    About

    Titles

    Assistant Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology), Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman Yale Scholar

    Biography

    David Braun, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and a member of the Center of Molecular and Cellular Oncology (CMCO) at Yale Cancer Center. Dr. Braun cares for patients with kidney cancers. He received his PhD in Computational Biology from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Science at New York University and his medical degree from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He completed his residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he received the Dunn Medical Intern Award and served as Chief Medical Resident before completing fellowship training in adult oncology through the Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare program where he was appointed the Emil Frei Fellow and the John R. Svenson Fellow.

    Dr. Braun joined Yale from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where he was an Instructor in Medicine with clinical and scientific interest in understanding and improving immune therapies for kidney cancer. He has a longstanding interest in integrating experimental and computational approaches to biomedical research and is currently studying mechanisms of response and resistance to immune therapy in kidney cancer, with the goal of developing novel therapies. He continues this work as part of the CMCO, which fosters and mentors physician-scientists as they advance their laboratory-based research programs to bridge fundamental cancer biology with clinical investigation for the translation of basic discoveries into better treatments or diagnosis.

    Appointments

    • Medical Oncology and Hematology

      Assistant Professor
      Primary

    • Pathology

      Assistant Professor
      Secondary
      Pathology

    • Urology

      Assistant Professor
      Secondary
      Urology

    Other Departments & Organizations

    Education & Training

    Instructor
    Harvard Medical School (2021)
    Physician
    Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (2021)
    Postdoctoral Fellow
    Dana-Farber Cancer Institute / Harvard Medical School (2019)
    Chief Medical Resident
    Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School (2017)
    Clinical Fellow
    Dana-Farber Cancer Institute / Massachusetts General Hospital / Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School (2016)
    Resident
    Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School (2015)
    Intern
    Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School (2014)
    MD
    Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (2013)
    PhD
    Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, Computational Biology (2012)
    AB
    Princeton University, Molecular Biology (2006)

    Research

    Overview

    How do somatic alterations impact response to immunotherapy?
    We integrate genomic, transcriptomic, and immunopathologic analyses with demographic and clinical response data to dissect how tumor genetic features contribute to response or resistance to current immunotherapies, with a focus on immune checkpoint inhibitors (for example, see Braun et al, Nature Medicine, 2020 and Braun et al, JAMA Oncology, 2019)


    How does the immune microenvironment impact anti-tumor immunity?
    The tumor-immune microenvironment is comprised of heterogeneous cell types that may positively or negatively impact anti-tumor immune responses. Our prior work identified key immune cell populations and cellular interaction circuits that were enriched in advanced kidney cancer (see Braun et al, Cancer Cell, 2021). We now aim to utilize single-cell proteogenomic tools to systematically dissect this complex ecosystem and identify candidate immune cell populations and cellular states that impact response or resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Further, we aim to construct patient-derived model systems to enable a mechanistic understanding of these potential determinants of anti-tumor immunity.


    What are the target tumor antigens and what are the characteristics of T cells that recognize them?
    The heart of antigen-specific anti-tumor immunity is the interaction between the T cell receptor (TCR) expressed on the surface of tumor-infiltrating T cells (TILs) and the peptide-MHC complex, displayed on a tumor cell. However, in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and many other cancer types, the important tumor antigens and the T cells that recognize them remain largely unknown. We aim to identify relevant tumor antigens that can ultimately enable innovative “precision” approaches to cancer immunotherapies (for example, see our personalized neoantigen vaccine in RCC, NCT02950766, Co-PIs: Braun, Choueiri, Ott)


    Medical Research Interests

    Antigens; Cancer Vaccines; Carcinoma, Renal Cell; Genomics; Immunotherapy; Transcriptome; Tumor Microenvironment

    Research at a Glance

    Yale Co-Authors

    Frequent collaborators of David A. Braun's published research.

    Publications

    2025

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    Clinical Trials

    Current Trials

    Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

    • activity

      Hoosier Cancer Research Network Correlative Science Clinical Trial Working Group

      Professional OrganizationsMember
    • honor

      R37 MERIT Award

      National AwardNational Institutes of Health / National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI)
    • honor

      Idea Development Award

      National AwardDepartment of Defense
    • honor

      Young Physician-Scientist Award

      National AwardAmerican Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI)
    • honor

      Trailblazer Award

      National AwardKidney Cancer Association
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    Clinical Care

    Overview

    David A. Braun, MD, PhD, specializes in medical oncology and hematology, focusing on the treatment of kidney cancers.

    As an assistant professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Braun is dedicated to advancing the understanding and application of immune therapies in kidney cancer.

    Immune therapy is a treatment that helps the body’s own defense system, the immune system, fight cancer. Normally, the immune system might not recognize cancer cells because they can disguise themselves. Immune therapy works by removing the "brakes" that prevent the immune system from attacking cancer, allowing it to better target and destroy cancer cells.

    Dr. Braun’s research involves exploring how the environment around kidney cancer cells affects treatment and finding specific targets on cancer cells to develop personalized therapies for diseases like renal cell carcinoma.

    Dr. Braun received his doctoral degree in computational biology from New York University and his medical degree from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He completed his residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital and a fellowship in adult oncology through the Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care program.

    Clinical Specialties

    Medical Oncology; Genitourinary Oncology

    Fact Sheets

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    Board Certifications

    • Medical Oncology

      Certification Organization
      AB of Internal Medicine
      Original Certification Date
      2020

    • Internal Medicine

      Certification Organization
      AB of Internal Medicine
      Original Certification Date
      2016

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    Contacts

    Email
    Appointment Number
    Mailing Address

    Yale School of Medicine

    333 Cedar St, PO Box 208028

    New Haven, CT 06520

    United States

    Administrative Support

    Locations

    • BraunLab

      Lab

      300 George Street, Fl 6th Floor, Ste Suite 6400

      New Haven, CT 06511

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