Dr. Pasi A. Janne

Get to Know Dr. Pasi A. Janne

Dr. Pasi Janne is the director of three cancer programs at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in addition to serving as a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Janne directs the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology, Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science and Chen-Huang Center for EGFR Mutant Lung Cancers. He also serves a leadership role at the Janne Lab, which is located at the Longwood Center in Boston.

His main research interest is the study of epidermal growth factor receptor mutations, which play a role in the development of cancers such as mesothelioma and lung cancer.

He is also interested in developing innovative approaches to mesothelioma treatment, including photodynamic therapy, immunotherapy, heated chemotherapy and gene therapy. He and his colleagues are testing a variety of molecular therapeutic targets in hopes of developing new and novel treatments for all forms of malignant mesothelioma.

Janne received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1996. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 1998, and a fellowship in hematology and oncology at Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare in 2001. In 2002, he earned a master’s degree in clinical investigation from Harvard University.

Specialties of Dr. Pasi A. Janne

• Pleural mesothelioma
• Lung cancer
• Immunotherapy
• Heated chemotherapy

Dr. Pasi A. Janne’s Experience and Medical Education

• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
• Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology (Director)
• Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science (Director)
• Chen-Huang Center for EGFR Mutant Lung Cancers (Director)
• Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (M.D.)
• Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Residency)
• Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare (Fellowship)

Awards and Certifications

• Double board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology
• Science of Oncology Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology (2020)
• Waun Ki Hong Award for Outstanding Achievement in Translational and Clinical Cancer Research, American Association for Cancer Research (2018)
• Translational Research Award, European Society for Medical Oncology (2018)
• Outstanding Investigator Award, National Cancer Institute (2018)
• Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Memorial Award, American Association of Cancer Research (2010)
• Team Science Award, American Association of Cancer Research (2010)
• Merit Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology (2001)

Mesothelioma Clinical Trials Under Pasi A. Janne, M.D.

• Bevacizumab (Avastin) and erlotinib (Tarceva) in previously treated mesothelioma.
• Sorafenib tosylate in treating patients with malignant mesothelioma.

Co-Discovered EGFR Mutations and Targeted Therapies

Janne is one of the original co-discoverers of epidermal growth factor receptor mutations. He has worked to develop therapeutic strategies that target these mutations.

He has served as the lead investigator of several clinical trials developing these drugs for people with mesothelioma and lung cancer. For example, he was the lead investigator in a clinical trial that studied the effects of the anti-EGFR drug erlotinib (Tarceva) in patients with mesothelioma.

Publications of Dr. Pasi A. Janne

• Rosen, E.Y. et al. (2020, October). Overcoming MET-dependent resistance to selective RET inhibition in patients with RET fusion-positive lung cancer by combining selpercatinib with crizotinib. Clinical Cancer Research.
• Keegan, A. et al. (2020, October). Plasma IL-6 changes correlate to PD-1 inhibitor responses in NSCLC. Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer. 
• Lee, Y. et al. (2020, September). Turnaround Time of Plasma Next-Generation Sequencing in Thoracic Oncology Patients: A Quality Improvement Analysis. JCO Precision Oncology.