Lajos Pusztai, MD, DPhil
Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology)Cards
About
Titles
Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology)
Co-Leader, Genetics, Genomics and Epigenetics, Yale Cancer Center
Biography
Dr. Pusztai is Professor of Medicine at Yale University and Scientific Co-Director of the Breast Center, and Co-Director of the Cancer Center Genomics, Genetics, and Epigenetics Program. Dr. Pusztai is also Chair of the Breast Cancer Research Committee of the South West Oncology Group (SWOG). He received his medical degree from the Semmelweis University of Medicine in Budapest, and his D.Phil. degree from the University of Oxford in England.
Learn more about Dr. Lajos Pusztai>>
His research group has made important contributions to establish that estrogen receptor-positive and-negative breast cancers have fundamentally different molecular, clinical and epidemiological characteristics. He has been a pioneer in evaluating gene expression profiling as a diagnostic technology to predict chemotherapy and endocrine therapy sensitivity and have shown that different biological processes are involved in determining the prognosis and treatment response in different breast cancer subtypes. His group has also developed new bioinformatics tools to integrate information from across different data platforms in order to define the molecular pathways that are disturbed in individual cancers and could provide the bases for individualized treatment strategies. He made important contributions to clarify the clinical value of preoperative (neoadjuvant) chemotherapy in different breast cancer subtypes. Dr Pusztai is also principal investigator of several clinical trials investigating new drugs, including immunotherapies for breast cancer. He has published over 250 scientific manuscripts in high impact medical journals including the NEJM, JAMA, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nature Biotechnology, PNAS, Lancet Oncology and JNCI. He is among the top 1% most highly cited clinical investigators in medicine over the past 10 years according to a 2015 Thomson Reuters report. He is Associate Editor of the Journal of National Cancer Institute (JNCI), member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, former member of the NCI North American Breast Cancer Steering Committee and Co-Chair of the Trans-ALTTO Committee and Chair of the Data Safety Monitoring Committee of the OPTIMA trial in the United Kingdom.
Appointments
Medical Oncology
ProfessorPrimary
Other Departments & Organizations
Education & Training
- Fellow
- University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (1999)
- Residency
- University of Rochester St. Mary's Hospital (1996)
- Intern
- University of Rochester St. Mary's Hospital (1994)
- DPhil
- University of Oxford (1993)
- MD
- Semmelweis University School of Medicine (1987)
Research
Overview
- My research group has made important contributions to establish that estrogen receptor-positive and-negative breast cancers are fundamentally different molecular and clinical entities with distinct epidemiological risk factors. We have shown that different biological processes are involved in determining the prognosis and treatment response in different types of breast cancers. We were the first to show that basal-like breast cancers have significantly higher chemotherapy sensitivity than ER positive cancers. We demonstrated the statistical pitfalls of conducting clinical trials that include both ER-positive and ER-negative breast cancer that contributed to the numerous contradictory results generated by older randomized adjuvant chemotherapy trial.
- We also played a leading role in evaluating gene expression profiling as a diagnostic technology and particularly as a potential predictive test for chemotherapy and endocrine therapy sensitivity. During this process we developed new bioinformatics algorithms to identify informative genes and novel web tools to interpret the biological consequences of the multiple genomic abnormalities detected in cancer. We conducted the first clinical trial in cancer to test several gene signatures as patient selection tools for a biologically targeted drug, dasatinib.
- My group has also made important contributions to clarifying the clinical value of preoperative chemotherapy for breast cancer and we created and important decision making tools that clinicians can use in the clinic to decide who are the most appropriate patients for neoadjuvant chemotherapy. We created a free website for physicians to calculate the probability of achieving pathologic complete response based on routine pathologic variables of the cancer (www.mdanderson.org/pcr) and introduced a new method to quantify residual cancer burden after therapy which is more accurate and versatile than any previous pathological measurement methods and is now adopted by several large clinical studies as endpoint metric.
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
Academic Achievements & Community Involvement
Clinical Care
Overview
Lajos Pusztai, MD, DPhil, is a medical oncologist who specializes in breast cancer. He is the co-director of the Genomics, Genetics, and Epigenetics Program at the Yale Cancer Center.
He says he enjoys the delicate work of helping patients overcome the fear and shock of a breast cancer diagnosis. “I ensure that they maximize their chance of cure through the best available treatments,” he says. “I also love the research component of my job, to push the boundaries of existing knowledge and developing new therapies.”
Dr. Pusztai says he gravitated to medical oncology at the beginning of his career because of an inspiring mentor, and that the best part of his job is seeing patients remain disease-free for years and continuing with their life.
He is chair of the Breast Cancer Research Committee of the South West Oncology Group (SWOG), a global cancer research community that designs and conducts publicly funded clinical trials. His research group has made important contributions to establish that estrogen receptor-positive and-negative breast cancers have fundamentally different molecular, clinical, and epidemiological characteristics.
He has been a pioneer in evaluating gene expression profiling as a diagnostic technology to predict chemotherapy and endocrine therapy sensitivity and has shown that different biological processes are involved in determining the prognosis and treatment response in different breast cancer subtypes. Dr. Pusztai is also the principal investigator of several clinical trials investigating new drugs, including immunotherapies for breast cancer.
Clinical Specialties
Fact Sheets
Hormonal Therapy for Cancer
Learn More on Yale MedicineInflammatory Breast Cancer
Learn More on Yale MedicineBreast Cancer
Learn More on Yale MedicineCancer
Learn More on Yale Medicine
Board Certifications
Medical Oncology
- Certification Organization
- AB of Internal Medicine
- Latest Certification Date
- 2023
- Original Certification Date
- 1999
Yale Medicine News
News & Links
Media
- The landscape of molecular abnormalities in cancers
News
- November 06, 2024Source: Healio
Strategies needed to reduce death due to low-risk breast cancer
- October 07, 2024
Caring for Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Conference for Patients and Caregivers
- September 30, 2024Source: Medscape
Popular Weight Loss Drugs Now for Patients With Cancer?
- June 07, 2024
Yale Cancer Center Researchers and Trainees Present at ASCO