Brian Druker, MD
Drug Development and Clinical Trial Advisor

Brian Druker, MD, is the director of the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), associate dean for oncology, OHSU School of Medicine, JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. His research is focused on translating the knowledge of the molecular pathogenesis of cancer into specific therapies and investigating the optimal use of these molecularly targeted agents. He performed preclinical studies that led to the development of imatinib (Gleevec) for chronic myeloid leukemia and then spearheaded the highly successful clinical trials of imatinib, which led to FDA approval of the drug in record time. This work resulted in a paradigm-shift in cancer treatment from non-specific chemotherapy to highly targeted therapeutic agents.