Jenny Chang, MD

Chang's work focuses on the therapy resistance of cancer stem cells, which has led to several publications and international presentations. Her clinical research aims to evaluate novel biologic agents in breast cancer patients. Chang has worked in the field of tumor-initiating cells for more than 10 years. After her discovery that tumor-initiating cells are chemo-resistant, and that targeting the EGFR/HER2 pathway can decrease this subpopulation, Chang played a key role in demonstrating some of the limitations and mechanisms of tumor-initiating cells. Her work is now focused on the mechanisms that regulate TICs, as well as initiating and planning clinical trials that target this critical tumor initiating subpopulation. She is also interested in characterizing the cross-talk between these different pathways that may lead to mechanisms of resistance, and has identified some of the chief regulatory pathways involved in TIC self-renewal. She is a world-renown clinical investigator, credited as one of the first to describe intrinsic chemo-resistance of tumor-initiating cells.