David Hardy, M.D.

Department Chair, Active Staff

Staff, Active Staff

During my hematology-oncology fellowship, I developed a strong interest in chemotherapy resistance. I completed a project at the University of Miami on the role of mTOR inhibition in reversing cisplatin resistance in small cell lung carcinoma. I have presented this work at local and national meetings and earned an AMGEN Young Investigator Forum award for best oral presentation in October, 2006.

During my special clinical fellowship in developmental therapeutics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, I designed a phase I clinical trial which will investigate the combination of the PPAR-gamma agonist rosiglitazone in combination with carboplatin. Preclinical in vitro and in vivo work performed within the Dana-Farber Department of Cancer Biology has revealed a role of PPAR-gamma agonists in mediating increased cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity and reversing platinum resistance. This occurs because of PPAR-gamma agonist-induced down-regulation of metallothionein gene expression. The trial will not only define the recommended phase 2 dose of the combination, but should also interrogate the proposed mechanism of synergy of the two agents.

At the ASCO annual meeting 2009, I presented the preliminary data about an open-label, dose escalation, safety, and pharmacokinetic study of ENMD-2076, a novel, orally-active, antimitotic, and antiangiogenic molecule which inhibits Aurora A as well as tyrosine kinases that drive tumor vascularization, including the VEGF and FGF receptors. The gene encoding Aurora A is frequently amplified in gastrointestinal and gynecological malignancies. Patients have experienced hypertension, neutropenia and cholecystitis. Several patients with ovarian cancer and colon cancer have had disease improvement.

In August 2009, I attended the ASCO/AACR workshop methods in clinical cancer research. During the meeting, I have designed a dose-escalation phase I clinical combining the mTOR inhibitor Temsirolimus with the Mek inhibitor AZD 6244 in patients with tumors harboring KRAS mutation. Pre-clinical data performed at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center has generated pre-clinical in vivo data of the synergism with the combination of a PI3K inhibitor with the MEK inhibitor AZD6244 in KRAS mutant non-small cell lung cancer models.

In October 2009, I joined Cleveland Clinic Florida as a staff associate hematologist/medical oncologist with particular interest in the care of patients with aero-digestive malignancies including patients with head and neck malignancies, lung cancer and esophageal carcinomas. My main interest is to foster the development of a personalized approach to patients with those malignancies based not only on the standard tumor staging, but also incorporating molecular and genetic changes elements to the therapeutic choice for those patients.

Ophthalmology

• 2009 – ASCO/AACR Workshop Methods in Clinical Cancer Research
• 2006 – AMGEN Young Investigator Forum Award
• 2006 – National Lung Cancer Partnership Travel Award
• 2003 – Internal Medicine Residency Annual Case Presentation, University of Miami
• 2003 – Student Inpatient Teaching Award, University of Miami, School of Medicine
• 2000 – CICAN- State of Bahia Cancer Center Scholarship
• 2000 – PIBIC/CNPq Brazilian Scholarship for Graduate Research

• American Academy of Ophthalmology
• American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery
• Bascom Palmer Eye Institute Allumni Association
• Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada