Shumei Kato, MD

Dr. Shumei Kato is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. Dr. Kato’s research interest has been the identification of molecular targets among patients with diverse cancers, as well as to identify the response/resistance mechanism from targeted and/or immunotherapeutic agents, that may be transformed into patient care. He chairs the MCC Molecular Tumor Board and directs the Cancer of Unknown Primary Program (part of the Rare Tumor Precision Medicine Clinic). Dr. Kato started his career in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics department at MD Anderson Cancer Center after training at UCSD. He moved back to the MCC at UC San Diego in 2016. He has authored more than 30 papers on advanced cancers and opening early phase trials, including patients with gastrointestinal malignancies as well as patients with rare tumors; one of his recent papers is the most highly cited for 2017 for the AACR journal in which it was published (CCR). His scientific interests focus on identifying the molecular targets that can be translated into patient care. He has broad experience exploring genomic alterations of cancer in both laboratory and clinical settings. From his previous experience, he understands the importance of close collaboration and teamwork between the basic and clinical personnel. He focuses his broad experience in both bench and bedside with his special skills in identifying molecular markers and management of clinical trials to make a significant contribution to translational research.