Yvonne Mowery MD, PhD, DABR

Yvonne M. Mowery, MD, PhD, DABR is a physician scientist and Associate Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh/UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, specializing in treating head and neck cancer with radiotherapy and studying novel combinations of radiation with immunotherapy. She was previously the Butler Harris Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology and an Assistant Professor of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences at Duke University, as well as the Associate Center Director for Radioimmunotherapy for the Duke Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Immunotherapy. Dr. Mowery received her MD and PhD in Pathology at Duke University in 2012, followed by completing Internal Medicine internship and Radiation Oncology residency at Duke University in 2017. During residency, she joined the laboratory of sarcoma and genetically engineered mouse model expert David Kirsch, MD, PhD to initiate a new research project evaluating the combination of radiation therapy and immune checkpoint blockade in a novel carcinogen-induced and genetically engineered sarcoma model that she developed. Data from her preclinical studies supported initiation of SU2C-SARC032 (NCT03092323), a phase II trial evaluating anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab in combination with neoadjuvant radiation therapy and surgery for high-risk soft tissue sarcoma of the extremity. Yvonne joined the faculty at Duke in 2017 and continued her postdoctoral training through 2020 in the Kirsch laboratory. Supported by an ASCO Young Investigator Award and Duke School of Medicine Physician Scientist Strong Start Award, Yvonne continued her work studying radiation and immunotherapy and developed several novel primary mouse models of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Her laboratory focuses on studying head and neck cancer pathogenesis and mechanisms of overcoming radiation and immunotherapy resistance in HNSCC, with a particular interest in DNA damage response pathways. Yvonne she was awarded a 2021 American Society for Clinical Investigation Young Physician-Scientist Award, and her research has been supported by a K08 Career Development Award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, a Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award, a P30 Cancer Center Support Grant Supplement, and a U24 through the National Cancer Institute Co-Clinical Imaging Research Resources Program. She is the PI of an investigator-initiated multi-institutional phase I ETCTN trial (NCT04576091) evaluating the ATR inhibitor BAY 1895344 with pembrolizumab and stereotactic body radiation therapy for recurrent HNSCC.