# Ryan B. Corcoran

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

## TL;DR

Worked out why BRAF inhibitors fail in colorectal cancer and how to combine drugs to overcome it.

## Summary

Ryan B. Corcoran is Director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center and Scientific Director of the Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. He is a physician-scientist known for working out why BRAF inhibitors fail in colorectal cancer, defining the EGFR-mediated feedback that led to the BRAF plus EGFR combinations of encorafenib and cetuximab now approved. His selected paper shows that EGFR-mediated reactivation of MAPK signalling contributes to the insensitivity of BRAF-mutant colorectal cancers to RAF inhibition with vemurafenib. He now uses ctDNA liquid biopsy to track clonal resistance to BRAF and KRAS-directed therapy.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Role: Director, Gastrointestinal Cancer Center; Scientific Director, Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy
- Specialisms: Colorectal cancer; BRAF and KRAS resistance; Liquid biopsy; Targeted therapy combinations

## Sources

- MGH profile: https://www.massgeneral.org/doctors/19556/ryan-corcoran
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Corcoran%20RB%5BAuthor%5D

## Connected records

- cancers: [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/)
- technologies: [Liquid biopsy (ctDNA)](https://onco.cc/technologies/liquid-biopsy/)
- targets: [BRAF](https://onco.cc/targets/braf/), [EGFR](https://onco.cc/targets/egfr/), [KRAS](https://onco.cc/targets/kras/)
- drugs: [Cetuximab](https://onco.cc/drugs/cetuximab/), [Encorafenib](https://onco.cc/drugs/encorafenib/)
- institutions: [Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center](https://onco.cc/institutions/mgh/)

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