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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

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

2024

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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

Clinical Specialties

Medical Oncology; Genitourinary Oncology

Fact Sheets

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

Yale Medicine News

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Get In Touch

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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