DD

David A. Drew

Also known as: David Alden Drew

Massachusetts General Hospital, UConn Health, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Research areas: Medicine · Oncology · Colorectal Cancer Screening and Detection · Genetic factors in colorectal cancer · Genetic Associations and Epidemiology

ORCID iD 0000-0002-8813-0816
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About

I am an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of Biobanking at Massachusetts General Hospital. My research focuses on the early detection, interception, and precision prevention of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, primarily colorectal cancer. My overarching interest has focused on designing and implementing clinical trials and cohort studies to address key areas of cancer prevention. Through the construction of robust biorepositories comprised of a wide range of carefully collected human biospecimens matched with high-resolution clinical metadata, my work is able to bridge the bedside to the laboratory through a scientifically rigorous approach to identify and test mechanistically-informed biomarkers. This approach informs personalized risk assessments, reveals critical insights into tumorigenesis, and identifies novel modalities for prevention and interception of neoplasia and other diseases. This interest began with my doctoral training focused on developing novel sensitive genomic and proteomic tools at the bench to elucidate molecular mechanisms driving tumorigenesis in human GI precancers. I expanded this skillset beyond the bench with post-doctoral training in the design and execution of precision nutrition (NCT05701657; NCT03479866; NCT03983733; NCT04735835) and cancer prevention and interception trials (NCT02394769; NCT05056896; NCT04216251), and in the application of epidemiological and statistical methods to multi-omic datasets. At the bench, I have focused on developing translational tools using participant-derived ‘living biobanks’ (e.g. intestinal organoids or fecal sample derived gut bacteria communities) for mechanistic investigation. Collectively, this work has allowed us to gain individualized insights into multiple determinants of health, including host and microbial metabolism, personalized responses to food, and tailored cancer prevention and screening strategies. My work has been recognized with several academic awards and I have been successful in receiving early-career funding from the NIH/NIDDK (K01), the American Gastroenterological Association, Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C), the MGH Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard. I am also a member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Cancer (DF/HCC) Epidemiology and Cancer Risk, Prevention, and Early Detection programs, two SU2C GI cancer prevention teams, and the Cancer Grand Challenges Team PROSPECT. The multidisciplinary impact of my work (h-index: 47; >17,600 citations) was broadly acknowledged when I was named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in 2023 and 2024.

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Publications (170)