Eric Gardner, PharmD, PhD
Department of Thoracic-Head & Neck Med Onc, Division of Cancer Medicine
Present Title & Affiliation
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Assistant Member, James P. Allison Institute
Assistant Professor, Thoracic-Head & Neck Med Onc, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2016 | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, US, Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences |
| 2011 | University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, Pharm.D |
Postgraduate Training
| 2023-2026 | Postdoctoral Fellow, Computational Biology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York |
| 2018-2023 | Damon Runyon Fellow, Langone Fellow, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York |
Experience & Service
Faculty Academic Appointments
Research Associate in Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, 2025 - 2026
Honors & Awards
| 2026 - Present | Transition Career Development Award (K22), National Cancer Institute |
| 2026 | TAMEST protégé - Nominated by Helen Piwnica-Worms via Lauren Byers, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2025 - 2026 | Young Investigator Award, North America, IASLC |
| 2023 | EGFR Resisters Summit Trainee Award, IASLC |
| 2023 | SCLC Young Investigators Summit Trainee Award, IASLC |
| 2021 - 2023 | Forbeck Scholar, Forbeck Research Foundation |
| 2018 - 2022 | Langone Fellow, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation |
| 2016 | June Biedler Scholar-in-Training Award, AACR |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
National Presentations
- 2024. Tolerance and Resistance to Targeted Therapy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). Invited. IASLC Hot Topics in Targeted Therapy Resistance (HTTR) Meeting. Washington, D.C, District of Columbia, US.
- 2024. Rising Stars in Cancer Biology. Invited. Rising Stars in Cancer Biology. Bar Harbor, Maine, US.
- 2024. 2nd Bi-Annual Myc Meeting. Invited. 2nd Bi-Annual Myc Meeting. Stockholm, Stockholm, SE.
- 2023. IASLC Hot Topic in Small Cell Lung Cancer Meeting. Invited. IASLC Hot Topic in Small Cell Lung Cancer Meeting. New York City, New York, US.
Grant & Contract Support
| Date: | 2025 - Present |
| Title: | The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | RR250135 |
| Date: | 2025 - Present |
| Title: | Secreted peptides as biomarkers and effectors of neuroendocrine transformation |
| Funding Source: | National Cancer Institute |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | 1K22CA303784-01 |
| Date: | 2025 - 2026 |
| Title: | Neuroendocrine secreted pleiotrophin as an effector of small cell transformation |
| Funding Source: | International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer |
| Role: | PI |
| Date: | 2020 - 2021 |
| Title: | Interrogating the Role of Dll3 in Histologic Transformation of Lung Cancer |
| Funding Source: | National Cancer Institute |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| ID: | 5 U01 CA224326-03 |
| Date: | 2018 - 2022 |
| Title: | Interrogating Lung Adenocarcinoma Transformation to Small Cell Lung Cancer at Single Cell Resolution |
| Funding Source: | Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | DRG 2344-18 |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Chen HJ, Gardner EE, Shah Y, Zhang K, Thakur A, Zhang C, Elemento O, Varmus H. Metastatic small cell lung cancer arises from TP53/RB1-deficient and MYC overproduction hESC-derived PNECs. Elife 13, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40694497.
- Ferrarone JR, Thomas J, Unni AM, Zheng Y, Nagiec MJ, Gardner EE, Mashadova O, Li K, Koundouros N, Montalbano A, Mustafa M, Cantley LC, Blenis J, Sanjana NE, Varmus H. Genome-wide CRISPR screens in spheroid culture reveal that the tumor suppressor LKB1 inhibits growth via the PIKFYVE lipid kinase. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 121(21):e2403685121, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38743625.
- Katti A, Vega-Perez A, Foronda M, Zimmerman J, Zafra MP, Granowsky E, Goswami S, Gardner EE, Diaz BJ, Simon JM, Wuest A, Luan W, Fernandez MTC, Kadina AP, Walker JA 2nd, Holden K, Lowe SW, Sanchez Rivera FJ, Dow LE. Generation of precision preclinical cancer models using regulated in vivo base editing. Nat Biotechnol 42(3):437-447, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 37563300.
- Gardner EE, Earlie EM, Li K, Thomas J, Hubisz MJ, Stein BD, Zhang C, Cantley LC, Laughney AM, Varmus H. Lineage-specific intolerance to oncogenic drivers restricts histological transformation. Science 383(6683):eadj1415, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38330136.
- Stein BD, Ferrarone JR, Gardner EE, Chang JW, Wu D, Hollstein PE, Liang RJ, Yuan M, Chen Q, Coukos JS, Sindelar M, Ngo B, Gross SS, Shaw RJ, Zhang C, Asara JM, Moellering RE, Varmus H, Cantley LC. LKB1-Dependent Regulation of TPI1 Creates a Divergent Metabolic Liability between Human and Mouse Lung Adenocarcinoma. Cancer Discov 13(4):1002-1025, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36715544.
- Vaishnavi A, Juan J, Jacob M, Stehn C, Gardner EE, Scherzer MT, Schuman S, Van Veen JE, Murphy B, Hackett CS, Dupuy AJ, Chmura SA, van der Weyden L, Newberg JY, Liu A, Mann K, Rust AG, Weiss WA, Kinsey CG, Adams DJ, Grossmann A, Mann MB, McMahon M. Transposon Mutagenesis Reveals RBMS3 Silencing as a Promoter of Malignant Progression of BRAFV600E-Driven Lung Tumorigenesis. Cancer Res 82(22):4261-4273, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36112789.
- Kern JA, Kim J, Foster DG, Mishra R, Gardner EE, Poirier JT, Rivard C, Yu H, Finigan JH, Dowlati A, Rudin CM, Tan AC. Role of mTOR As an Essential Kinase in SCLC. J Thorac Oncol 15(9):1522-1534, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32599072.
- Mitchell J, Yanamala N, Tan YL, Gardner EE, Tirupula KC, Balem F, Sheves M, Nietlispach D, Klein-Seetharaman J. Structural and Functional Consequences of the Weak Binding of Chlorin e6 to Bovine Rhodopsin. Photochem Photobiol 95(3):787-802, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30582615.
- Miles LA, Burga LN, Gardner EE, Bostina M, Poirier JT, Rudin CM. Anthrax toxin receptor 1 is the cellular receptor for Seneca Valley virus. J Clin Invest 127(8):2957-2967, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28650343.
- Gardner EE, Lok BH, Schneeberger VE, Desmeules P, Miles LA, Arnold PK, Ni A, Khodos I, de Stanchina E, Nguyen T, Sage J, Campbell JE, Ribich S, Rekhtman N, Dowlati A, Massion PP, Rudin CM, Poirier JT. Chemosensitive Relapse in Small Cell Lung Cancer Proceeds through an EZH2-SLFN11 Axis. Cancer Cell 31(2):286-299, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28196596.
- Lok BH, Gardner EE, Schneeberger VE, Ni A, Desmeules P, Rekhtman N, de Stanchina E, Teicher BA, Riaz N, Powell SN, Poirier JT, Rudin CM. PARP Inhibitor Activity Correlates with SLFN11 Expression and Demonstrates Synergy with Temozolomide in Small Cell Lung Cancer. Clin Cancer Res 23(2):523-535, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 27440269.
- Bowman RL, Klemm F, Akkari L, Pyonteck SM, Sevenich L, Quail DF, Dhara S, Simpson K, Gardner EE, Iacobuzio-Donahue CA, Brennan CW, Tabar V, Gutin PH, Joyce JA. Macrophage Ontogeny Underlies Differences in Tumor-Specific Education in Brain Malignancies. Cell Rep 17(9):2445-2459, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27840052.
- Weiskopf K, Jahchan NS, Schnorr PJ, Cristea S, Ring AM, Maute RL, Volkmer AK, Volkmer JP, Liu J, Lim JS, Yang D, Seitz G, Nguyen T, Wu D, Jude K, Guerston H, Barkal A, Trapani F, George J, Poirier JT, Gardner EE, Miles LA, de Stanchina E, Lofgren SM, Vogel H, Winslow MM, Dive C, Thomas RK, Rudin CM, van de Rijn M, Majeti R, Garcia KC, Weissman IL, Sage J. CD47-blocking immunotherapies stimulate macrophage-mediated destruction of small-cell lung cancer. J Clin Invest 126(7):2610-20, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27294525.
- Shamay Y, Elkabets M, Li H, Shah J, Brook S, Wang F, Adler K, Baut E, Scaltriti M, Jena PV, Gardner EE, Poirier JT, Rudin CM, Baselga J, Haimovitz-Friedman A, Heller DA. P-selectin is a nanotherapeutic delivery target in the tumor microenvironment. Sci Transl Med 8(345):345ra87, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27358497.
- Gardner EE, Rudin CM. Drug therapy: Preclinical oncology - reporting transparency needed. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 13(1):8-9, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 26667971.
- Schneeberger VE, Allaj V, Gardner EE, Poirier JT, Rudin CM. Quantitation of Murine Stroma and Selective Purification of the Human Tumor Component of Patient-Derived Xenografts for Genomic Analysis. PLoS One 11(9):e0160587, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27611664.
- Poirier JT, Gardner EE, Connis N, Moreira AL, de Stanchina E, Hann CL, Rudin CM. DNA methylation in small cell lung cancer defines distinct disease subtypes and correlates with high expression of EZH2. Oncogene 34(48):5869-78, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25746006.
- Gardner EE, Connis N, Poirier JT, Cope L, Dobromilskaya I, Gallia GL, Rudin CM, Hann CL. Rapamycin rescues ABT-737 efficacy in small cell lung cancer. Cancer Res 74(10):2846-56, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24614082.
- Zinn RL, Gardner EE, Marchionni L, Murphy SC, Dobromilskaya I, Hann CL, Rudin CM. ERK phosphorylation is predictive of resistance to IGF-1R inhibition in small cell lung cancer. Mol Cancer Ther 12(6):1131-9, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23515613.
- Relling MV, Gardner EE, Sandborn WJ, Schmiegelow K, Pui CH, Yee SW, Stein CM, Carrillo M, Evans WE, Hicks JK, Schwab M, Klein TE. Clinical pharmacogenetics implementation consortium guidelines for thiopurine methyltransferase genotype and thiopurine dosing: 2013 update. Clin Pharmacol Ther 93(4):324-5, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23422873.
- Zinn RL, Gardner EE, Dobromilskaya I, Murphy S, Marchionni L, Hann CL, Rudin CM. Combination treatment with ABT-737 and chloroquine in preclinical models of small cell lung cancer. Mol Cancer 12:16, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23452820.
- Relling MV, Gardner EE, Sandborn WJ, Schmiegelow K, Pui CH, Yee SW, Stein CM, Carrillo M, Evans WE, Klein TE. Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium guidelines for thiopurine methyltransferase genotype and thiopurine dosing. Clin Pharmacol Ther 89(3):387-91, 2011. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21270794.
- Nickl K, Gardner EE, Geiger S, Heilmann J, Seifert R. Differential coupling of the human cannabinoid receptors hCB1R and hCB2R to the G-protein G(alpha)i2beta1gamma2. Neurosci Lett 447(1):68-72, 2008. e-Pub 2008. PMID: 18845226.
Review Articles
- Earlie EM, Gardner EE, Varmus H, Laughney AM. Dissecting histological transformation. Trends Cancer 12(6):485-494, 2026. e-Pub 2026. PMID: 41896034.
- Sanchez-Cespedes M, Lockwood WW, Suda K, Gardner EE, Mitsudomi T, Politi K, Rolfo C, Sen T, Sos ML, Tammela T, Wynes MW, Tsao MS, Berger AH. Tolerance and Resistance to Targeted Therapy in NSCLC: Emerging Concepts and Strategies. JTO Clin Res Rep 7(4):100944, 2026. e-Pub 2026. PMID: 41858873.
- Li X, Gardner EE, Molina-Pinelo S, Wilhelm C, Mu P, Quintanal-Villalonga A. Lineage plasticity and histological transformation: tumor histology as a spectrum. Cell Res 35(11):803-823, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 41023204.
Editorials
- Gardner EE, Gay CM. Exclusion of immune cells by vascular gates. Trends Cancer, 2026. PMID: 42425836.
- Gardner EE, Poirier JT, Rudin CM. Histone Code Aberrancies in Small Cell Lung Cancer. J Thorac Oncol 12(4):599-601, 2017. PMID: 28343540.
Abstracts
- EE Gardner, Earlie EA, Laughney AM, Varmus H. How does a transformed cell shape its pulmonary niche?. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Mechanisms and Models of Cancer conference.
- EE Gardner, Poirier JT, Connis N, de Stanchina E, Hann CL, Rudin CM. Combined Targeting of BCL-2/-xL and mTOR in Small Cell Lung Cancer. Gordon Research Conference on Cell Death.
- EE Gardner, Poirier JT, de Stanchina E, Hann CL, Rudin CM. Remodeling of Programmed Cell Death in SCLC. MTCR-2015 symposium.
- EE Gardner, Lok B, Schneeberger VE, de Stanchina E, Poirier JT, Rudin CM. Loss of SLFN11 or gain of TWIST1 promote chemotherapy resistance in small cell lung cancer. American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified September 03, 2026