Nasopharyngeal Cancer Program

A. Dimitrios Colevas, MD

Professor of Medicine and, by courtesy, of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery

Dr. Colevas is a medical oncologist with expertise in new drug development and multimodality treatment of head and neck cancers.  He leads the Stanford head and neck cancer clinical research group.  He is a principal investigator on numerous clinical trials, including both institutional and international studies enrolling NPC patients; these include trials that involve cellular immunotherapy, checkpoint inhibitors, and targeted small molecules.

Quynh Thu Le, MD

Professor of Radiation Oncology and, by courtesy, of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery

Dr. Le is a radiation oncologist. Her research focuses on translating laboratory findings to the clinic and vice versa in head and neck cancer (HNC), specifically in the area of GalectinGalectin-1 and salivary gland stem cells. She is the Co-Director of the Radiation Biology Program of the Stanford Cancer Institute and the Chair of the Head and Neck Cancer Committee of the NRG Oncology Group.  Her recent work includes exploration of EBV DNA as a biomarker for prognosis and treatment effect in patients with NPC, as well as harmonization of the EBV DNA assay for use in clinical trial in collaboration with Ben Pinsky.

John Sunwoo, MD

Professor Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery and, by courtesy, of Dermatology

Dr. Sunwoo’s research focuses on: (1) the immune response to head and neck cancer and to a cancer-causing population of cells within these tumors (2) a special lymphocyte population involved in innate immunity called natural killer (NK) cells; and (3) intra-tumor and inter-tumor heterogeneity. Much of his present bedside to bench work involves exploring mechanisms of sensitivity and resistance of tumors to immunotherapy in head and neck cancer patients.

Beth Beadle, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology

Dr. Beadle is a radiation oncologist who specializes in the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer.  She serves as the Director of the Head and Neck Radiation Oncology program at Stanford as well as the Director of Clinical Research for Radiation Oncology.  She is dedicated to caring for each patient as an individual, providing the optimal care through treatment and survivorship, and her research is devoted to using advanced technologies to improve cancer outcomes and minimize side effects for patients diagnosed with NPC.

Michael Gensheimer, MD

Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology - Radiation Therapy

Dr. Gensheimer is a board-certified radiation oncologist who specializes in treatment of head and neck and lung cancers. He performs research on using computers to better interpret scan results and predict clinical outcomes. His research has been selected for several awards, including the ESMO Congress Merit Award, Best of ASTRO, and AAPM Science Council Session.

Peter Hwang, MD

Professor of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (Rhinology) and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery

Dr. Hwang is Chief of the Division of Rhinology and Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery.  He specializes in endoscopic approaches to tumors of the nasopharynx, sinuses and skull base. His research includes outcomes of surgical treatment of recurrent NPC, and management of chronic sinusitis complications of NPC treatment.

Jayakar Nayak, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery (Rhinology) and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery

Zara Patel, MD

Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery and of Neurosurgery

Dr. Patel is an expert in advanced endoscopic sinus and skull base surgery. She treats patients with benign and malignant sinus and skull base tumors, as well as olfactory disorders.

Benjamin Pinsky, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Pathology and Medicine

Dr. Pinsky’s research focuses on development and application of molecular assays for the diagnosis and management of infectious diseases.  His lab developed the highly sensitive and specific assay of EBV DNA in human blood plasma which has been incorporated as a biomarker in several multi-institutional clinical trials of patients with NPC.

Wen-Kai Weng, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Medicine and, by courtesy, of Dermatology

Dr. Weng’s basic research interest is immunotherapy for cancer, with two components: tumor specific targeting therapy and allogeneic transplant. He is currently working on new strategies to target patient-specific tumor using antibody along with effector cells. He is institutional principal investigator of a clinical trials for  allogeneic T- cell immunotherapy for patients with EBV- related cancers, including NPC.

Robert West, MD, PhD

Professor of Pathology

Dr. West’s research includes identification of novel markers in tumors for diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of therapeutic response in cancer.  He also using high through put sequencing approaches. He studies of driver mutations in head and neck cancers with a focus on salivary gland cancers and NPC.