Robert L. Ferris
Surgeon and immunologist who led CheckMate 141, the trial that made nivolumab the first drug to lengthen survival in head and neck cancer after platinum failure, and E3311 on transoral surgery for HPV-positive throat cancer.
Overview
Robert Ferris is a head and neck surgical oncologist and tumour immunologist who directed UPMC Hillman Cancer Center before becoming director of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2024. He was first author of the 2016 New England Journal of Medicine report of CheckMate 141, in which nivolumab improved overall survival compared with single-agent chemotherapy in platinum-refractory recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma, and of the 2022 Journal of Clinical Oncology report of ECOG-ACRIN E3311, which tested reduced-dose radiotherapy after transoral surgery in HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer.
Transoral surgery with pathology-guided reduced-dose radiotherapy is a validated de-escalation pathway for HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer in experienced centres.
PD-1 blockade after platinum became standard, and the trial opened the way for first-line pembrolizumab in KEYNOTE-048.
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