{"entity":{"id":"michael-heinrich","kind":"person","name":"Michael C. Heinrich","aka":[],"tldr":"Oregon physician-scientist who showed that the KIT mutation type in a GIST predicts how well imatinib works, discovered PDGFRA mutations in the tumours without KIT mutations, and led NAVIGATOR, which established avapritinib for PDGFRA D842V disease.","summary":"Michael Heinrich is a medical oncologist and laboratory investigator at Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland VA Medical Center. With Christopher Corless he reported PDGFRA-activating mutations in KIT-negative gastrointestinal stromal tumours in Science in 2003 and showed in the same year that KIT exon 11 mutations predict response to imatinib. He was first author of the 2020 Lancet Oncology report of NAVIGATOR, in which avapritinib produced high response rates in PDGFRA D842V-mutant GIST, an indication resistant to earlier drugs.","asOf":"2026-09-18","links":[],"tags":["gist","targeted-therapy","trialist"],"related":[],"cancers":["gist-pdgfra-d842v","gist-kit-exon-11","gist","sarcoma"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["ohsu-knight"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":["navigator"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":["paper-heinrich-kit-mutation-imatinib-response-jco-2003","paper-navigator-avapritinib-heinrich-lancet-oncol-2020","paper-heinrich-pdgfra-gist-science-2003"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"role":"Medical oncologist and laboratory scientist, Oregon Health & Science University and Portland VA","institutionId":"ohsu-knight","specialisms":["Gastrointestinal stromal tumour","KIT and PDGFRA mutations","Kinase inhibitor development"],"profiles":[{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Heinrich%5BAuthor%5D"}],"papers":[],"orcid":"0000-0003-3790-0478"},"route":"/people/michael-heinrich/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"gist","kind":"cancer","name":"Gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST)","route":"/cancers/gist/"},{"id":"gist-kit-exon-11","kind":"cancer","name":"KIT exon 11-mutant GIST","route":"/cancers/gist-kit-exon-11/"},{"id":"gist-pdgfra-d842v","kind":"cancer","name":"PDGFRA D842V-mutant GIST","route":"/cancers/gist-pdgfra-d842v/"},{"id":"sarcoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST)","route":"/cancers/sarcoma/"}],"institution":[{"id":"ohsu-knight","kind":"institution","name":"OHSU Knight Cancer Institute","route":"/institutions/ohsu-knight/"}],"trial":[{"id":"navigator","kind":"trial","name":"NAVIGATOR","route":"/trials/navigator/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-heinrich-kit-mutation-imatinib-response-jco-2003","kind":"paper","name":"Kinase mutations and imatinib response in patients with metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumour","route":"/key-papers/paper-heinrich-kit-mutation-imatinib-response-jco-2003/"},{"id":"paper-navigator-avapritinib-heinrich-lancet-oncol-2020","kind":"paper","name":"NAVIGATOR: avapritinib in advanced PDGFRA D842V-mutant gastrointestinal stromal tumour","route":"/key-papers/paper-navigator-avapritinib-heinrich-lancet-oncol-2020/"},{"id":"paper-heinrich-pdgfra-gist-science-2003","kind":"paper","name":"PDGFRA activating mutations in gastrointestinal stromal tumours","route":"/key-papers/paper-heinrich-pdgfra-gist-science-2003/"}]}}