Clinical Contacts
Administrative Contact
Biography
Dr. Lawrence structured his career to prepare to be a physician scientist by obtaining both an MD and PhD. He initially pursued internal medicine and medical oncology, but ultimately settled on radiation oncology. He is board certified in all 3 areas. He has had an active clinical practice in radiation oncology for 30 years specializing in the treatment of patients with gastrointestinal malignancies and CNS tumors.
Dr. Lawrence has focused his research career in two main areas. First, in collaboration with basic scientists he developed a laboratory program in chemotherapeutic radiation sensitizers and, more recently, has studied how to integrate molecularly targeted therapies. He collaborates with basic science faculty interested in translational research to investigate new combinations that can form the basis for rational clinical trials. The second area of focus involves the use of highly conformal radiation therapy in the treatment of brain and gastrointestinal cancers. In particular, he is focusing, in collaboration with medical physicists, radiologists, imaging scientists, and biologists, on the concept of adapting treatment to the individual patient response, assessed both by state-of-the-art imaging and plasma biomarkers.
Dr. Lawrence is the author of over 300 peer-reviewed publications, and his work has been continuously supported by the National Cancer Institute for over 20 years.
Areas of Interest
- Chemotherapeutic and molecularly targeted radiosensitizers
Clinical Interests
- Radiosensitizers with conformal radiation guided by metabolic and functional imaging for the treatment of patients with gastrointestinal and central nervous system malignancies.
Honors & Awards
2017 Recipient, 2017 Morton M. Kligerman Award, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine,
Department of Radiation Oncology, Philadelphia, PA
2015 RCR George Edelstyn Prize Lecturer, NCRI Conference, Liverpool, UK
2014 Recipient, Outstanding Researcher Award, RSNA, Chicago IL
2011 Recipient, Taubman Scholar Award
2010 ASCO Statesman Award
2010 Fellow, American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
2010 Recipient, 2010 Israeli Society of Clinical Oncology and Radiation Therapy Gold Medal
2009 Recipient, 2009 ASTRO Gold Medal
2007 Member of the National Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences
2006 Fellow, American Society for Therapeutic Radiation Oncology
2003 Simon Kramer Professor, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA
2002 Bruce Cain Memorial Lecturer, New Zealand Society of Oncology, Palmerston, NZ
Credentials
- PhD, Rockefeller University, 1979
- MD, Cornell University Medical Center, 1980
- Board Certifications: Internal Medicine (1983 – present), Medical Oncology (1985 – present), Radiation Oncology (1987 – present)
Grants
- P01 CA59827, (PIs: Lawrence/Ten Haken), 5/15/2014-4/30/2019, NIH: Optimization of High Dose Conformal Therapy, Role: PD/PI and Project Leader for Project 1.
- R01 CA163895, (PI: Morgan), 09/01/2012-06/30/2017, NIH: Selective Sensitization of Pancreatic Cancer to Therapy by Chk1 and PARP1 Inhibition, Role: Co-Investigator.
- P30 CA46592-26, (PI: Fearon), 06/01/2012-05/31/2018, NIH/NCI: University of Michigan Cancer Center Support Grant, Role: Co-Director, Radiation Sciences Program.
- P50 CA130810, (PI: Brenner), 11/01/2010-8/31/2017, NIH: Translational Research in GI Cancer – SPORE Project 3 (Lawrence, Project Leader) Role: Co-Investigator.
Published Articles or Reviews
Selected from over 300 publications
- Wahl DR, Stenmark MH, Tao Y, Pollom EL, Caoili EM, Lawrence TS, Shipper MJ, Feng M. Outcomes after stereotactic body radiotherapy or radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma. J Clin Oncol. 34(5):452-459, 2016 PM26628466. [Epub 2015 Nov 30].
- Kim MM, Camelo-Piragua S, Schipper M, Tao Y, Normolle D, Junck L, Mammoser A, Betz BL, Cao Y, Kim CJ, Heth J, Sagher O, Lawrence TS, Tsien CI. Gemcitabine plus radiation therapy for high grade glioma: long-term results of a phase I dose-escalation study. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 94(2):305-311, 2016. PM26853339/PMC4746478.
- Farjam R, Pramanik P, Aryal MP, Srinivasan A, Chapman CH, Tsien CI, Lawrence TS, Cao Y. A radiation-induced hippocampal vascular injury surrogate marker predicts late neurocognitive dysfunction. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 93(4):908-915, 2015. PM26530761 [epub 8 Aug 2015]
- Karnak D, Engelke C, Parsels LA, Kausar T, Wei D, Robertson J, Marsh K, Davis M, Zhao LL, Maybaum J, Lawrence TS, Morgan MA. Combined inhibition of Wee1 and PARP1/2 for radiosensitization in pancreatic cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 20(19):5085-5096, 2014. PM25117293/PMC4184968
- Morgan MA, Parsels LA, Maybaum J, Lawrence TS. Improving the efficacy of chemoradiation with targeted agents. Cancer Discov. 4(3):280-291, 2014. PM24550033/PMC3947675