Nancy E.
Davidson
M.D.
Photo: Fred Hutch
Education, Training, Board Certifications
- M.D., Harvard Medical School
- Resident in Internal Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins
- Fellow in Medical Oncology, National Cancer Institute
- Medical Oncology, American Board of Internal Medicine
- Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine
Clinical Expertise
- Breast cancer
Affiliations
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center - Faculty & Lab
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center - Provider
- University of Washington
Publications
Research and/or clinical interests
Dr. Nancy Davidson is an experienced laboratory, translational, and clinical investigator who has worked to move insights in cancer biology from the bench to the clinic and the community, particularly in the field of breast cancer. Her lab work has focused on determinants of hormone response and resistance in preclinical models of human breast cancer with special emphasis on the role of epigenetic regulation as well as the potential role for epigenetically targeted therapies in breast cancer. She has also played a leadership role in early phase clinical trials of novel therapeutics as well as the conduct of large national and international clinical trials that have helped to establish standards of care for women with breast cancer.
She served as leader of the Breast Cancer Program at Johns Hopkins for many years and was Director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, one of the nation’s NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, from 2009-2016. Through her role as a member and chair of the Breast Committee for the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, she served as a co-investigator or lead investigator for a number of practice-changing breast cancer trials. These include trials of optimal endocrine therapy for premenopausal hormone-responsive breast cancer, optimization of endocrine therapy for postmenopausal women, use of taxanes in the adjuvant setting, and utility of trastuzumab for early HER-2 positive breast cancer. As a co-founder of the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC) she contributes to the development of early phase biospecimen-rich translational trials in breast cancer. She is an active participant in the development of evidence-based clinical pathways in breast cancer treatment and helped to spearhead a focus on value of cancer care through the American Society of Clinical Oncology. A past president of both the American Society of Clinical Oncology and American Association for Cancer Research, she is an elected member of the national Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.