# Laura J. Esserman

Source: https://onco.cc/people/laura-esserman/  
OnCo record `laura-esserman` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Breast surgeon who built the I-SPY platform, the adaptive trial that tests new drugs before surgery.

## Summary

Laura Esserman is Director of the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Principal Investigator of the I-SPY trials. A breast surgeon and trial innovator, she built I-SPY 2, the adaptive neoadjuvant platform trial that tests new drugs before surgery, and leads the WISDOM study of risk-based breast screening. Her papers include the New England Journal of Medicine report on adaptive randomisation of neratinib in early breast cancer and a JAMA article rethinking screening for breast cancer and prostate cancer. A prominent voice on overdiagnosis and de-escalation, her work spans triple-negative, HR-positive and HER2-positive breast cancer, mammography and AI in radiology.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Role: Director, UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center; Principal Investigator, I-SPY trials
- Specialisms: Breast cancer; Adaptive trial design; Screening

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_J._Esserman
- UCSF profile: https://profiles.ucsf.edu/search/?searchtype=people&searchfor=Laura%20J.%20Esserman
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Esserman%20LJ%5BAuthor%5D
- Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Laura%20J.%20Esserman

## Connected records

- cancers: [HER2-positive breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-her2-positive/), [HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-hr-positive/), [Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)](https://onco.cc/cancers/tnbc/)
- technologies: [AI in radiology](https://onco.cc/technologies/radiology-ai-screening/), [Mammography & tomosynthesis](https://onco.cc/technologies/mammography/)
- institutions: [UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center](https://onco.cc/institutions/ucsf/)
- terms: [Basket, umbrella, and platform trials](https://onco.cc/terms/basket-umbrella-platform/), [Master protocol (platform, basket and umbrella trials)](https://onco.cc/terms/master-protocol/), [Pathologic complete response (pCR)](https://onco.cc/terms/pcr/), [Residual cancer burden (RCB)](https://onco.cc/terms/rcb/)
- trials: [I-SPY 1 (CALGB 150007/150012, ACRIN 6657)](https://onco.cc/trials/i-spy-1/), [I-SPY 2](https://onco.cc/trials/i-spy-2/), [I-SPY 2.2](https://onco.cc/trials/i-spy-2-2/), [WISDOM (Women Informed to Screen Depending on Measures of Risk)](https://onco.cc/trials/wisdom-trial/)
- key papers: [Circulating tumor DNA in neoadjuvant-treated breast cancer reflects response and survival](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-magbanua-ispy2-ctdna-neoadjuvant-ann-oncol-2021/), [MYC pathway activation in triple-negative breast cancer is synthetic lethal with CDK inhibition](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-horiuchi-myc-tnbc-cdk-synthetic-lethal-jem-2012/)
- companies: [Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative](https://onco.cc/companies/quantum-leap-healthcare-collaborative/)

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