Yale School of Medicine New Haven, Connecticut
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
Personalizing treatment for patients with less aggressive ER-positive breast cancers.
Recent research suggests that patients with 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 anti-hormone 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 reducing treatment effectiveness. 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.
In this project, Dr. Winer is focused on improving treatment strategies for patients with low-risk, stage II-III ER-positive breast cancer. Patients will have the choice to include or exclude chemotherapy in their treatment plan, along with oral targeted therapy (CDK4/6 inhibitors) and anti-hormone therapy. Dr. Winer’s goals are to better examine how patients tolerate CDK 4/6 inhibitors whether chemotherapy is administered or not over one year, and to see how well the treatment works. Additionally, he seeks to better understand how patients make decisions about treatment choices and what impact these choices have on treatment side effects and quality of life. This study will inform a strategy to lower the risk of breast cancer recurrence, lessen treatment side effects, and improve quality of life.
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.
2003
The Play for P.I.N.K. Aquidneck Club Award
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