Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York, New York
Robert and Kate Niehaus Chair in Inherited Cancer Genomics Member, Cancer Biology and Genetics Program Vice Chairman, Academic Affairs Chief, Clinical Genetics Service
Identifying new causes of inherited breast and ovarian cancer and increasing knowledge and awareness of personal risk.
In addition to the BRCA genes, there are many other genes that, when mutated, predispose women and men to breast cancer. Dr. Offit and his colleagues are conducting studies to identify other genes involved in hereditary breast cancer. They have identified a rare inherited cause of breast cancer and a type of therapy that may benefit affected patients. Their work continues to add to our understanding of the genetic risk of breast cancer and inform more personalized strategies for preventing and treating the disease.
Dr. Offit and collaborators have discovered a tumor suppressor gene called STARD13 that may play a role in BRCA-associated cancer development. In other studies, they have identified small molecules that may be useful in treating cancer with DNA repair defects.
Dr. Offit will study STARD13 further using advanced tools that measure DNA repair, gene activity, and protein changes, to better understand how it contributes to cancer risk. The team is further developing their laboratory models from breast biopsies of BRCA 1/BRCA2 carriers, which will allow them to test how genetic risk scores and other modifier genes affect cancer development. They will also apply single-cell analysis to their models to see how these genetic changes affect specific cell types found in breast tissue.
Kenneth Offit, MD, MPH is Chief of the Clinical Genetics Service in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). He is also Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and Vice Chairman of the Program in Prevention, Control and Population Research at MSKCC. He received his AB at Princeton University and his MD and MPH from the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He was awarded an American Cancer Society Career Research Recognition Award and the 2013 ASCO American Cancer Society Award for research in cancer prevention. Dr Offit is a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute, and of the Evaluation of Genomic Applications in Practice and Prevention working group of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. In 2025, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Offit’s research team identified the most common mutation associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer in those of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. His group also published the first prospective study documenting a decreased risk of breast and ovarian cancer following oophorectomy in women carrying inherited mutations of the BRCA genes, and the first genome wide association study of BRCA2 mutation carriers. Dr. Offit’s group has discovered or characterized inherited mutations associated with risk of breast, ovarian, colon cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and other malignancies. His laboratory currently focuses on utilizing genomic approaches to discover novel mechanisms associated with increased risk for common malignancies, or which modify the risks of known hereditary predispositions.
2005
The Gray Foundation and BCRF Collaborative Award
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