Dr. Razelle Kurzrock is a world leader in precision medicine and immunotherapy. As a board-certified medical oncologist, practicing physician, and researcher, she is recognized as one of the most important voices in precision medicine worldwide and one of the most highly cited scientists globally. She recently joined the Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center, overseeing the development of a new Precision Medicine and Rare Cancers initiative and assuming leadership of the cancer clinical trial enterprise.
Dr. Kurzrock is known for founding and chairing the largest Phase 1 clinical trials department in the world while at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The program’s focus on the precision medicine strategy solidified her standing as a pioneer in the development of personalized medicine.
More recently, at the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center, Dr. Kurzrock established the Rare Tumor Clinic and assumed leadership of both the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy and Experimental Therapeutics Program.
Dr. Kurzrock has served as principal investigator on more than 100 clinical trials and brought oversight to more than 500 early-phase trials, with many agents yielding FDA approvals. She is the author of more than ~900 peer-reviewed articles in a variety of elite medical journals and holds a highly exceptional Hirsch index (h-index) score of 136, with over 75,000 citations. Her strong record of competitive funding is comprised of approximately $125 million in lifetime funding, which includes nearly $50 million in research support from the National Institutes of Health. Dr Kurzrock also serves as the Chair of the Early Therapeutics and Rare Cancer Committee (NCI SWOG) and as one of the PIs of the DART trial (national immunotherapy trial for rare cancers, opened at ~1000 sites) as well as the PI of TRACK, the national precision genomics trial for rare cancers sponsored by TargetCancer Foundation.
Dr. Kurzrock received her medical degree from the University of Toronto, Canada. She has four children, two Basenjis (dogs) and is married to Philip Cohen, MD, who is a dermatologist.