Titles and Affiliations
Director of Yale Cancer Center
Physician-in-Chief, Smilow Cancer Hospital
Alfred Gilman Professor of Pharmacology and Professor of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine
Member, BCRF Scientific Advisory Board
Research area
Improving treatment for patients with less aggressive ER-positive breast cancers.
Impact
Recent research suggests that patients with biologically less aggressive estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer might not gain as much benefit from chemotherapy. In addition, studies show that using CDK4/6 inhibitors with hormone blocker therapy can greatly lower the chance of cancer coming back. Chemotherapy often causes many adverse side effects that can be challenging for patients. Dr. Winer is testing whether chemotherapy can be safely skipped without affecting overall outcome. This could lead to changes in how early-stage breast cancer is treated, improve patients’ quality of life, and reduce healthcare costs linked to chemotherapy’s side effects. Ultimately, Dr. Winer’s goal is to make breast cancer treatment as effective as possible while also being personalized for each patient, improving outcomes and experiences.
Progress Thus Far
Over the past year, the team has made significant progress in launching a phase 2 clinical trial designed to clarify the role of chemotherapy in patients with estrogen receptor ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Building on findings from earlier trials, this study will test ribociclib (KISQALI®), a CDK4/6 inhibitor, with hormone-blocking therapy in groups of patients who did and did not have prior chemotherapy. The trial will evaluate the tolerability of ribociclib in these different contexts. The trial has a patient preference design, which is intended to overcome prior barriers to enrollment while reflecting real-world treatment choices.
What’s next
In the coming year, Dr. Winer and his team will launch patient enrollment with the goal of accruing 70 participants. The team is prioritizing the intentional recruitment of underrepresented populations to ensure that the study results are both equitable and broadly applicable. To achieve this, the trial will be opened across all 14 Smilow Cancer Hospital sites in Connecticut and Rhode Island, allowing patients to participate in their own communities with familiar providers.
Biography
Eric P. Winer, MD, is the Director of Yale Cancer Center and Physician-in-Chief of Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven. Dr. Winer is an internationally renowned expert in breast cancer whose research has won numerous awards and changed the face of the disease. He serves as the co-chair of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Breast Cancer Steering Committee that oversees the breast cancer clinical trials sponsored by the NCI. He has also been recognized for his mentoring efforts and was the recipient of the William Silen Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award from Harvard Medical School in 2020.
Dr. Winer is a graduate of Yale College, with a degree in History and Russian/East European Studies. He subsequently obtained his medical degree from Yale School of Medicine, followed by training in internal medicine at Yale. He completed a fellowship in medical oncology at Duke University Medical Center and remained on the Duke Faculty until 1997. He then spent 24 years at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Winer held the Thompson Chair in Breast Cancer Research and served as chief clinical development officer, and senior vice president for medical affairs at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as well as Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School until returning to Yale in 2022.
