Justin Gainor

Justin F. Gainor, MD is a medical oncologist in the Center for Thoracic Cancers at the Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. In 2018, he was appointed director of targeted immunotherapy in the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies at MGH. His major research interests have centered around two themes: targeted therapy and immunotherapy. Dr. Gainor has led multiple clinical trials evaluating novel targeted therapies for patients with oncogene-driven lung cancers, particularly those harboring chromosomal rearrangements involving anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) and RET. In parallel, he has played an active role in uncovering the molecular mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapies in lung cancer. He believes that identifying such mechanisms of resistance can provide crucial insights into development of future targeted therapies and combination strategies.

More recently, Dr. Gainor has worked to transfer the same clinical-translational research framework pioneered in targeted therapies to the immunotherapy setting. His current work is investigating the role of novel immunotherapies and immunotherapy combinations in patients with oncogenic driver mutations, such as ALK rearrangements. Through careful insights into the immune landscape of such tumors, he hopes to extend the benefit of immunotherapies to these patient populations.

Research Interests

cancer immunotherapy; cancer treatment resistance; carcinoma non-small-cell lung; drug resistance neoplasm; gene rearrangement; immune checkpoint blockade; lung cancer; physician-patient relations; protein-tyrosine kinases; proto-oncogene proteins c-ret; receptor protein-tyrosine kinases

Companies

• Associate Professor Harvard Medical School (2021)
• Director, Center for Thoracic Cancers Massachusetts General Hospital (2019)
• Director, Targeted Immunotherapy Massachusetts General Hospital (2018)
• Thoracic Oncologist Massachusetts General Hospital (2013)
• Assistant Professor Harvard Medical School (2017 — 2021)
• Instructor Harvard Medical School (2013 — 2017)
• Hematology/Oncology Fellow DANA FARBER PARTNERS CANCER CARE INC (2011 — 2013)
• Internal Medicine Resident Massachusetts General Hospital (2008 — 2011)

Education

• Doctor of Medicine - MD Harvard Medical School (2004.09 — 2008.06)
• Bachelor's degree The Johns Hopkins University (2000.09 — 2004.06)