# Maria E. Cabanillas

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

## TL;DR

Turned anaplastic thyroid cancer, once measured in months, into a treatable disease with BRAF-targeted therapy and neoadjuvant strategies.

## Summary

Maria Cabanillas led the anaplastic thyroid cancer work within the ROAR basket trial that won dabrafenib plus trametinib approval for BRAF V600E-mutant disease, and pioneered neoadjuvant BRAF/MEK inhibition to make previously unresectable tumours operable, which has raised one-year survival in her centre's series from near zero to above 50%. She leads the anaplastic thyroid cancer programme at MD Anderson.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Tags: thyroid; braf; neoadjuvant
- Role: Professor of Endocrine Neoplasia and Hormonal Disorders, MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Specialisms: Anaplastic thyroid cancer; BRAF/MEK targeted therapy; Neoadjuvant therapy; Endocrine oncology

## Sources

- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Cabanillas%20ME%5BAuthor%5D%20anaplastic%20thyroid

## Connected records

- cancers: [Thyroid cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/thyroid/)
- technologies: [Small-molecule kinase inhibitors](https://onco.cc/technologies/kinase-inhibitors/)
- targets: [BRAF](https://onco.cc/targets/braf/)
- institutions: [MD Anderson Cancer Center](https://onco.cc/institutions/md-anderson/)
- trials: [ROAR (anaplastic thyroid cancer cohort)](https://onco.cc/trials/roar-atc/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/maria-cabanillas.json