William Hwang

Will is an Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School, Principal Investigator at the Center for Systems Biology and Center for Cancer Research, Attending Physician in the Department of Radiation Oncology Gastrointestinal Service at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Associated Faculty Member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He has had a long-standing interest in the immense temporal and spatial heterogeneity of biological systems and the many insights that can only be gleaned by studying systems at the level of their individual components—single molecules or cells. His work has been honored with numerous awards including the Rhodes Scholarship, P.D. Soros Fellowship for New Americans, Martha Gray Prize for Excellence in Research, Seidman Prize for Outstanding Thesis, summa cum laude honors from Harvard Medical School, MGH Clinical Research Award, William Shipley Research Award, ASCO/CCF Young Investigator Award, AACR NextGen Star, and Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists.

The Hwang lab is focused on studying tumor-stroma interactions at unprecedented resolution through the development and application of techniques in single-cell and spatial biology, multiplexed imaging, and functional genetic screens to patient-derived specimens, organoids, and mouse models to elucidate mechanisms of (1) therapeutic resistance mediated by genetic, epigenetic, and phenotypic factors including cell state plasticity; (2) treatment-mediated remodeling of the spatial microarchitecture of tumors and underlying cancer cell-stromal interactions; and (3) tumor-nerve crosstalk, which plays a critical role in the pathophysiology and morbidity of many malignancies but remains understudied.

Clinical Interests:

• Gastric and Esophageal Cancers
• Gastrointestinal cancer
• Liver cancer
• Pancreatic cancer
• Rectal cancer
• Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT)

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Harvard University (2010 — 2013)
• MSc University of Oxford (2006 — 2008)
• BSE Duke University (2002 — 2006)