Bio
Trained in molecular and computational biology and jointly appointed in Medicine and Genetics, Dr. Christina Curtis pursues systems biology and computational approaches to establish a quantitative and mechanistic understanding of cancer progression. Her research is focused on the development and application of innovative experimental and computational approaches to improve the diagnosis, treatment and earlier detection of cancer by leveraging genome-scale data derived from clinical samples coupled with computational modeling and iterative experimentation.
To this end, Dr. Curtis and her team have developed an integrated experimental and computational framework to measure clinically relevant patient-specific parameters and to measure clonal dynamics during tumor progression and through therapy. This led to their description of a Big Bang model of effectively neutral tumor evolution, thereby advancing a quantitative understanding of tumor progression and refining the de facto clonal evolution model (Sottoriva et al. Nature Genetics 2015). Following on from this, her team demonstrated that some tumors are 'born to be bad' wherein their metastatic potential is specified early (Hu et al Nature Genetics 2019). Dr. Curtis' research has also redefined the molecular map of breast cancer, revealing 11 subgroups with distinct clinical outcomes and subtype-specific copy number drivers. Her team has gone on to show that these these integrative breast cancer subgroups exhibit distinct spatio-temporal patterns of relapse and have identified four genomically distinct ER+/HER2- subgroups at high-risk of late distant relapse (Curtis et al. Nature 2012; Rueda et al. Natire 2019). In ongoing research, she aims to develop a systematic interpretation of genotype/phenotype associations in cancer by leveraging state-of-the-art technologies and robust data integration techniques.
Academic Appointments
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Assistant Professor, Medicine - Oncology
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Assistant Professor, Genetics
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Member, Bio-X
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Member, Stanford Cancer Institute
Administrative Appointments
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Co-Director, Molecular Tumor Board, Stanford Cancer Institute (2014 - Present)
Honors & Awards
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NIH Director's Pioneer Award, NIH (2018)
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Kavli Frontier of Science Fellow, National Academy of Science (USA) (2016)
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AACR Career Development Award, AACR Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation - Carol's Crusade for a Cure Foundation (2016)
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Institutional Seed Grant Recipient, American Cancer Society (2013)
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Career Development Award, STOP Cancer (2012)
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V Scholar Award, V Foundation for Cancer Research (2012)
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Scholar-In-Training Award, American Association for Cancer Research (2009)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
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Vice Chair, Annual Meeting Program Committee, American Association for Cancer Research (2019 - Present)
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Editorial Board Member, Cell Systems (2019 - Present)
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Annual Meeting Program Committee, American Association for Cancer Research (2018 - Present)
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Scientific Advisory Board, GRAIL (2017 - Present)
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Scientific Advisor, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Adaptive Oncology Program (2017 - Present)
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Scientific Advisory Board, Cancer Research UK Early Detection Committee (2017 - Present)
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Editorial Board Member, Carcinogenesis: Integrative Cancer Biology (2018 - Present)
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Editorial Board Member, Journal of Computational Biology (2017 - Present)
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Editorial Board Member, ASCO Journal of Clinical Oncology: Precision Oncology (2016 - Present)
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Associate Editor, Breast Cancer Research (2015 - Present)
Professional Education
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Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Cambridge, Computational Biology
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PhD, University of Southern California, Molecular and Computational Biology
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MS, University of Southern California, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
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MSc, University of Heidelberg, Germany, Molecular Biology
Community and International Work
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NCI/CTEP Translational Bioinformatics Committee
Topic
Bioinformatics /Translational cancer research/clinical trials
Partnering Organization(s)
NCI
Ongoing Project
Yes
Opportunities for Student Involvement
No
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Human Tumor Atlas Network
Topic
Molecular characterization of cancer and pre-cancer
Partnering Organization(s)
NCI
Ongoing Project
Yes
Opportunities for Student Involvement
Yes
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The Cancer Genome Atlas, Data Analysis Working Groups
Topic
Cancer Genomics
Partnering Organization(s)
NCI/TCGA
Location
US
Ongoing Project
Yes
Opportunities for Student Involvement
Yes