Vivek Subbiah MD, has been appointed as the inaugural associate director for drug development and precision oncology at the Stanford Cancer Institute. In this role, he will lead the Early Drug Development Program to expand access to innovative treatments for Stanford cancer patients through phase 1 trials, targeted therapeutics, and study designs that match patients to treatments based on biological markers.

Subbiah is an internationally recognized leader in tumor-agnostic precision oncology, in which therapies target a tumor’s specific genetic alterations regardless of its site of origin. He is the principal investigator of more than 150 phase I/II trials, a collaborator on more than 250 additional studies, and an author on over 450 peer-reviewed publications. His work has been central in the clinical development of multiple first-in-human therapies and has helped shift cancer therapeutic strategies from an organ-based approach to one guided by molecular profiling of the tumor. These efforts have led to regulatory approvals and changes in clinical practice, expanding treatment options for patients who previously had few or no effective therapies.

He joins Stanford after serving as chief of early-phase drug development at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, where he oversaw nine drug development units implementing first-in-human clinical trials and led the expansion of early-phase capabilities across a network of more than 1,300 physicians at over 250 locations in 24 states. Previously, he held leadership roles at MD Anderson Cancer Center, serving as the executive director of medical oncology research and the clinical medical director of the phase 1 program.