Matthew J. Ellis, MD, PhD
Director, Breast Cancer Program; Anheuser Busch Tenured Professor of Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
2009-2010 BCRF Project
Co-Investigators:
Kelly K. Hunt, MD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; and
John A. Olson, Jr., MD, PhD, Duke University, Durham, NC
On behalf of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group
In 2004 the Dr. Ellis engaged the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group and the Cancer Treatment Evaluation Program at the National Cancer Institute to conduct a cooperative group neoadjuvant aromatase inhibitor trial. The Z1031 trial, activated in 2006, is a randomized open label comparison between the three FDA approved aromatase inhibitors (letrozole, anastrozole and exemestane) before surgery in postmenopausal women with clinical stage 2 and 3 ER rich breast cancer, with clinical response as the primary endpoint. Although the monthly accrual rate is on target and the trial is estimated to close in late summer 2009, an amendment (A6) to include an additional patient cohort (Z1031-Cohort B) has been approved by CTEP and is pending approval. The approach in Cohort B focuses on the validation of a simple biopsy-based test to identify patients with estrogen receptor positive but endocrine therapy resistant tumors who require an alternative and more effective treatment approach. The trial continues to provide the availability of pre and post endocrine treatment tissue samples that will allow valuable new insights into the biological basis for the success and failure of endocrine therapy.
Bio:
Originally from the United Kingdom, Matthew Ellis completed his initial medical training in the U.K. at the Universities of Cambridge and London before coming to the United States in 1991 as a Medical Research Council of Great Britain Traveling Fellow at the Lombardi Cancer Research Center at Georgetown University. He stayed at Georgetown until 2000, at which time he was Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology.
In 2000, he became Director of the Duke University Breast Cancer Program and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine. After 3 years with Duke University, Dr. Ellis took over as the Head of Medical Oncology at Washington University in St. Louis where he is currently a Tenured Professor of Medicine and Director of the Breast Cancer Program at Siteman Cancer Center.
Dr. Ellis's research has focused on the use of aromatase inhibitors and targeted therapy in treating breast cancer. He is a member of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) Breast Cancer Committee and Chairman of the Working Group for Correlative Science in Breast Cancer.
