Haven R. Garber, MD, PhD
Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Breast Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Assistant Professor, Breast Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2020 | MD Anderson Cancer Center UT Health Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, Texas, US, Immunology, Ph.D |
| 2010 | The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio, US, MD |
| 2005 | Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, US, Biomedical Engineering, BSE |
Postgraduate Training
| 2017-2020 | Clinical Hematology-Oncology Fellowship, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas |
| 2015-2017 | Research Instructor, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas |
| 2013-2015 | Research Fellowship, Transplant Immunology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas |
| 2010-2013 | Clinical Internship and Residency, Internal Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts |
| 2007-2008 | Research Scholar, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Bethesda, Maryland |
Licenses & Certifications
| 2023 | Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure |
| 2023 | Georgia Composite Medical Board |
| 2023 | Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners |
| 2023 | Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure |
| 2023 | Arizona Board of Medical Examiners |
| 2023 | Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners |
| 2023 | Washington State Department of Health |
| 2023 | Alabama Board of Medical Examiners |
| 2021 | Florida Board of Medicine |
| 2020 | ABIM, Oncology |
| 2020 | ABIM, Hematology |
| 2013 | Texas Medical Board of Medicine |
| 2013 | American Board of Internal Medicine |
| 2010 | Massachusetts Medical Board |
Experience & Service
Faculty Academic Appointments
Instructor, Stem Cell Transplantation - Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2015 - 2017
Other Professional Positions
Senior Resident, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, 2013 - 2013
Clinical Specialist-Nocturnal Program, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2013 - 2015
Senior Resident, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, 2011 - 2012
Extramural Institutional Committee Activities
member, Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2020 - Present
voting member, Immunotherapy Platform Executive Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2020 - Present
Co-leader, Breast Medical Oncology TNBC/IO Working Group, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2020 - Present
Honors & Awards
| 2022 - Present | PRS Top 1% of Providers |
| 2021 - Present | PRS Top 1% of Providers |
| 2020 | NIH Clinical Loan Repayment Program |
| 2020 | AACR/ASCO Methods in Clinical Cancer Research Workshop, Virtual Attendee |
| 2020 | MDACC Hem/Onc Fellowship, Lyndon B. Johnson Third Year Fellow of the Year Award |
| 2019 | Susan Dolan Fellowship Award in Breast Oncology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2019 | FDA/ASCO Fellows’ Day Workshop Attendee |
| 2016 | Keystone Symposia Travel Award Scholarship for Oral Presentation, The Cancer Genome |
| 2016 | NIH Clinical Loan Repayment Program, NCI |
| 2015 | Fellow's Category for Outstanding Oral Presentation, First Annual Immuno-Oncology Young Investigators' Forum |
| 2015 | Postdoctoral fellows' category for outstanding research poster in Translational Research, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2014 | Knowledge Gap Seed Grant, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2010 | Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, The Ohio State University College of Medicine |
| 2010 | DOC3 Student of the Year, Ohio State University College of Medicine |
| 2010 | Louis H. Mendelson Award in Cardiology, Ohio State University College of Medicine |
| 2007 | Pediatric Oncology Branch Research Poster Competition, NIH/NCI |
| 2006 | Samuel J. Roessler Memorial Research Scholarship, Nationwide Children's Hospital Research Institute |
| 2005 | Tau Beta Pi, Pratt School of Engineering |
| 2001 | National Merit Scholar, Pickerington High School |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
National Presentations
- 2025. Characteristics of Outcome of Breast Cancers Diagnosed in Patients with Germline ATM Mutations. Poster. 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting. Chicago, IL, US.
- 2024. Pathologic complete response (pCR) rate in patients with a germline pathogenic variant in ATM and early breast cancer. Poster. 2024 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. San Antonio, TX, US.
- 2023. Phase 1 trial of LYL797, a ROR1-targeted CAR T-cell therapy enhanced with genetic and epigenetic reprogramming, in advanced triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Poster. San Diego, CA, US.
- 2020. Immune phenotype and response to neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NAST) in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Poster. 2020 Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Meeting-Virtual. Chicago, IL, US.
- 2020. The incidence and impact of brain metastasis in patients with hereditary BRCA1/2 mutated invasive breast cancer in a prospectively followed cohort. Poster. 2020 Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Meeting-Virtual. Chicago, IL, US.
- 2019. Residual cancer burden in patients with early stage triple negative breast cancer who progress on anthracycline-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy in an ongoing clinical trial (ARTEMIS). Poster. 2019 Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). San Antonio, US.
- 2019. Clinical characteristics of breast cancer patients with ATM mutations. Poster. 2019 Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. San Antonio, TX, US.
- 2019. Tumor immune microenvironment (TiME) changes by multiplex IF staining in a pilot study of neoadjuvant talazoparib for early-stage breast cancer patients with a BRCA mutation. Poster. 2019 Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Chicago, IL, US.
- 2019. Stochastic cancer-immune coevolution: Implications for cancer incidence and immunotherapeutic efficacy. Poster. 2019 Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Chicago, IL, US.
- 2019. Brain metastasis in patients with hereditary BRCA mutated invasive breast cancer. Poster. 2019 Annual American Society Cancer Oncology Meeting (ASCO). Chicago, IL, US.
International Presentations
- 2024. Recent advances for Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Invited. Shanghai Concord Medical Cancer Center Medical Oncology Synposium. Shanghai, CN.
- 2016. Subclonal Evolution of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) after Allogeneic T-. Invited. Keystone Symposia - Banff Canada. Banff, CA.
Grant & Contract Support
| Date: | 2022 - Present |
| Title: | A SIK2 Inhibitor, GRN-300 |
| Funding Source: | ACS |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | Experimental Therapeutics SRA-22-192-01 |
| Date: | 2014 - Present |
| Title: | Knowledge Gap Seed Grant |
| Funding Source: | The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center |
| Role: | Awardee |
| ID: | Knowledge Gap Seed Grant |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Jacomina LE, Swanson DM, Mitchell MP, Woodward WA, Smith BD, Hoffman KE, Goodman CR, Garber HR, Sun SX, Yap TA, Meric-Bernstam F, Arzu IY, Bloom ES, Schlembach PJ, Strom EA, Stauder MC, Shaitelman SF. Outcomes After Palliative Radiation Therapy in Patients With Symptomatic Locoregionally Advanced Breast Cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 22(2):278-91, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39549757.
- Agcaoili AM, Ameena N, Andres D, Caners R, Chahal MK, Croitor NJ, David GM, Enns KL, Fedorova O, Garber HA, Gregoire SD, Ilnisky TE, Jiang A, Kozak A, Ladha F, Martin A, McAuley MA, McEachern LR, McNeill C, Nanayakkara SD, Nguyen NTV, Park G, Peters DK, Poitras MN, Potts J, Prajapati DV, Prefontaine CD, Rajapaksha RV, Singhal P, Souriyavong C, Stoker C, Talabis KR, Tan Y, Tang JL, Tkach KW, Tohms AJ, Tramley CG, Treftlin J, Ukani D, Vallelly EA, Wiens PV, Yee C, Yu K, Marcus JM, Mitogenomics Consortium LP. Phylogenetic analysis of the complete mitochondrial genome of the orange-winged sulphur butterfly Dercas nina Mell 1913 (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Pieridae: Coliadinae). Mitochondrial DNA B Resour 9(11):1510-7, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39544520.
- Garber HR, Basu S, Jindal S, He Z, Chu K, Raghavendra AS, Yam C, Santiago L, Adrada BE, Sharma P, Mittendorf EA, Litton JK. Durvalumab and tremelimumab before surgery in patients with hormone receptor positive, HER2-negative stage II-III breast cancer. Oncotarget 15:238-47, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38502947.
- Sun SX, Piotrowski MJ, Adesoye T, Mitchell MP, Garber HR, Teshome M, Kuerer HM, Tamirisa N, Singh P. Long-Term Outcomes and Predictors of Response in Breast Cancer Patients with Advanced Nodal Involvement. J Am Coll Surg 238(1):1-9, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 37870227.
- Yam C, Mittendorf EA, Garber HR, Sun R, Damodaran S, Murthy RK, Ramirez D, Karuturi M, Layman RM, Ibrahim N, Rauch GM, Adrada BE, Candelaria RP, White JB, Ravenberg E, Clayborn A, Ding QQ, Symmans WF, Prabhakaran S, Thompson AM, Valero V, Tripathy D, Huo L, Moulder SL, Litton JK. A phase II study of neoadjuvant atezolizumab and nab-paclitaxel in patients with anthracycline-resistant early-stage triple-negative breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 199(3):457-69, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37061619.
- Kumar T, Hobbs E, Yang F, Chang JT, Contreras A, Parra Cuentas ER, Garber H, Lee S, Lu Y, Scoggins ME, Adrada BE, Whitman GJ, Arun BK, Mittendorf EA, Litton JK. Tumor immune microenvironment changes by multiplex immunofluorescence staining in a pilot study of neoadjuvant talazoparib for early-stage breast cancer patients with a hereditary BRCA mutation. Clin Cancer Res 28(17):3669-76, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35736816.
- Garber HR, Raghavendra AS, Lehner M, Qiao W, Gutierrez-Barrera AM, Tripathy D, Arun B, Ibrahim NK. Incidence and impact of brain metastasis in patients with hereditary BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutated invasive breast cancer. NPJ Breast Cancer 8(1):46, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35393462.
- Yam C, Yen EY, Chang JT, Jr BR, Alatrash G, Garber H, Huo L, Yang F, Philips AV, Ding QQ, Lim B, Ueno NT, Kannan K, Sun X, Sun B, Parra Cuentas ER, Symmans WF, White JB, Ravenberg E, Seth S, Guerriero JL, Rauch GM, Damodaran S, Litton JK, Wargo JA, Hortobagyi GN, Futreal A, Wistuba II, Sun R, Moulder SL, Mittendorf EA. Immune Phenotype and Response to Neoadjuvant Therapy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer. Clin Cancer Res 27(19):5365-75, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34253579.
- Garber HR, Litton JK. Integrating poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors in the treatment of early breast cancer. Curr Opin Oncol 31(3):247-55, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30789866.
- Alatrash G, Qiao N, Zhang M, Zope M, Perakis AA, Sukhumalchandra P, Philips AV, Garber HR, Kerros C, St John LS, Khouri MR, Khong H, Clise-Dwyer K, Miller LP, Wolpe S, Overwijk WW, Molldrem JJ, Ma Q, Shpall EJ, Mittendorf EA. Fucosylation enhances the efficacy of adoptively transferred antigen-specific cytotoxic t lymphocytes. Clin Cancer Res 25(8):2610-20, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30647079.
- Yang TH, St John LS, Garber HR, Kerros C, Ruisaard KE, Clise-Dwyer K, Alatrash G, Ma Q, Molldrem JJ. Membrane-associated proteinase 3 on granulocytes and acute myeloid leukemia inhibits t cell proliferation. J Immunol 201(5):1389-99, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30021768.
- Alatrash G, Perakis AA, Kerros C, Peters HL, Sukhumalchandra P, Zhang M, Jakher H, Zope M, Patenia R, Sergeeva A, Yi S, Young KH, Philips AV, Cernosek AM, Garber HR, Qiao N, Weng J, St John LS, Lu S, Clise-Dwyer K, Mittendorf EA, Ma Q, Molldrem JJ. Targeting the leukemia antigen PR1 with immunotherapy for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Clin Cancer Res 24(14):3386-96, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29661776.
- Peters HL, Tripathi SC, Kerros C, Katayama H, Garber HR, St John LS, Federico L, Meraz IM, Roth JA, Sepesi B, Majidi M, Ruisaard K, Clise-Dwyer K, Roszik J, Gibbons DL, Heymach JV, Swisher SG, Bernatchez C, Alatrash G, Hanash S, Molldrem JJ. Serine proteases enhance immunogenic antigen presentation on lung cancer cells. Cancer Immunol Res 5(4):319-29, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28254787.
- Alatrash G, Garber HR, Zhang M, Sukhumalchandra P, Qiu Y, Jakher H, Perakis AA, Becker L, Yoo SY, Dwyer KC, Coombes K, Talukder AH, John LS, Senyukov V, Lee DA, Sergeeva A, He H, Ma Q, Armistead PM, Roszik J, Mittendorf EA, Molldrem JJ, Hawke D, Lizee G, Kornblau SM. Cathepsin G is broadly expressed in acute myeloid leukemia and is an effective immunotherapeutic target. Leukemia 31(1):234-7, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 27573556.
- Reuben A, Spencer CN, Prieto PA, Gopalakrishnan V, Reddy SM, Miller JP, Mao X, De Macedo MP, Chen J, Song X, Jiang H, Chen PL, Beird HC, Garber HR, Roh W, Wani K, Chen E, Haymaker C, Forget MA, Little LD, Gumbs C, Thornton RL, Hudgens CW, Chen WS, Austin-Breneman J, Sloane RS, Nezi L, Cogdill AP, Bernatchez C, Roszik J, Hwu P, Woodman SE, Chin L, Tawbi H, Davies MA, Gershenwald JE, Amaria RN, Glitza IC, Diab A, Patel SP, Hu J, Lee JE, Grimm EA, Tetzlaff MT, Lazar AJ, Wistuba II, Clise-Dwyer K, Carter BW, Zhang J, Futreal PA, Sharma P, Allison JP, Cooper ZA, Wargo JA. Genomic and immune heterogeneity are associated with differential responses to therapy in melanoma. NPJ Genom Med 2(10), 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28819565.
- Alatrash G, Thall PF, Valdez BC, Fox PS, Ning J, Garber HR, Janbey S, Worth LL, Popat U, Hosing C, Alousi AM, Kebriaei P, Shpall EJ, Jones RB, de Lima M, Rondon G, Chen J, Champlin RE, Andersson BS. Long-term outcomes after treatment with clofarabine ± fludarabine with once-daily intravenous busulfan as pretransplant conditioning therapy for advanced myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 22(10):1792-800, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27377901.
- Ma Q, Garber HR, Lu S, He H, Tallis E, Ding X, Sergeeva A, Wood MS, Dotti G, Salvado B, Ruisaard K, Clise-Dwyer K, John LS, Rezvani K, Alatrash G, Shpall EJ, Molldrem JJ. A novel TCR-like CAR with specificity for PR1/HLA-A2 effectively targets myeloid leukemia in vitro when expressed in human adult peripheral blood and cord blood T cells. Cytotherapy 18(8):985-94, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27265873.
- St John LS, Wan L, He H, Garber HR, Clise-Dwyer K, Alatrash G, Rezvani K, Shpall EJ, Bollard CM, Ma Q, Molldrem JJ. PR1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes are relatively frequent in umbilical cord blood and can be effectively expanded to target myeloid leukemia. Cytotherapy 18(8):995-1001, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27378343.
- Cui Y, Onozawa M, Garber HR, Samsel L, Wang Z, McCoy JP, Burkett S, Wu X, Aplan PD, Mackall CL. Thymic expression of a T-cell receptor targeting a tumor-associated antigen coexpressed in the thymus induces T-ALL. Blood 125(19):2958-67, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25814528.
- Cogdill AP, Cogdill AP, Frederick DT, Frederick DT, Cooper ZA, Cooper ZA, Garber HR, Garber HR, Ferrone CR, Ferrone CR, Fiedler A, Fiedler A, Rosenberg L, Rosenberg L, Thayer SP, Thayer SP, Warshaw AL, Warshaw AL, Wargo JA, Wargo JA. Targeting the MAGE A3 antigen in pancreatic cancer. Surgery 152(3 Suppl 1):S13-8, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22770803.
Review Articles
- Garber HR, Mirza A, Mittendorf EA, Alatrash G. Adoptive T-cell therapy for leukemia. Mol Cell Ther 2:25, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 26056592.
Abstracts
- Lanier A, Garber HR, Arun B. Characteristics of Outcome of Breast Cancers Diagnosed in Patients with Germline ATM Mutations. 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting 43(16), 2025. e-Pub 2025.
- Yam C, Alatrash G, Yen EY, Garber H, Philips AV, Huo L, Yang F, Bassett RL, Sun X, Cuentas ERP, Symmans WF, Seth S, White JB, Rauch GM, Damodaran S, Litton JK, Wargo JA, Hortobagyi GN, Moulder SL, Mittendorf EA. Immune phenotype and response to neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NAST) in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). J Clin Oncol 38, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 34253579.
- Garber H, Lehner M, Raghavendra AS, Gutierrez-Barrera AM, Tripathy D, Litton JK, Arun B, Ibrahim NK. The incidence and impact of brain metastasis in patients with hereditary BRCA1/2 mutated invasive breast cancer in a prospectively followed cohort. J Clin Oncol 38(15):Abstr 1096, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Garber HR, Lehner M, Raghavendra AS, Ibrahim NK. The incidence and impact of brain metastasis in patients with hereditary BRCA1/2 mutated invasive breast cancer in a prospectively followed cohort. 2020 Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Meeting-Virtual 38(15):Abstr 1096, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Yam C, Alatrash G, Garber HR, Mittendorf EA. Immune phenotype and response to neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NAST) in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). 2020 Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Meeting-Virtual 38(15), 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- George JT, Levine H, Molldrem JJ, Garber H. Stochastic cancer-immune coevolution: Implications for cancer incidence and immunotherapeutic efficacy. J Clin Oncol 37, 2019. e-Pub 2019.
- Hobbs E, Yang F, Kumar T, Contreras A, Cuentas ERP, Garber H, Scoggins M, Adrada BE, Whitman GJ, Arun B, Mittendorf EA, Litton JK. Tumor immune microenvironment (TiME) changes by multiplex IF staining in a pilot study of neoadjuvant talazoparib for early-stage breast cancer patients with a BRCA mutation. J Clin Oncol 37, 2019. e-Pub 2019.
- Garber H, Raghavendra AS, Hess KR, Arun B, Ibrahim NK. Brain metastasis in patients with hereditary BRCA-mutated invasive breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 37(15):Abstr 1074, 2019. e-Pub 2019.
- Spigel DS, Hamilton E, Garber HR, Gillenwater H. Phase 1 trial of LYL797, a ROR1-targeted CAR T-cell therapy enhanced with genetic and epigenetic reprogramming, in advanced triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). 2023 SITC.
- Garber HR, Lanier A, Gutierrez A, Arun B. Pathologic complete response (pCR) rate in patients with a germline pathogenic variant in ATM and early breast cancer. 2024 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Book Chapters
- Garber HR, Karuturi MS, Tripathy D. Metastatic Breast Cancer. In: The MD Anderson Manual of Medical Oncology 5E, 2025.
- Garber HR, Karuturi MS, Hortobagyi GH. Metastatic Breast Cancer. In: The MD Anderson Manual of Medical Oncology 4E, 2022.
- Garber HR. PD-1/PD-L1/MSI/TMB in Breast Cancer. In: Handbook of Targeted Cancer Therapy and Immunotherapy, 2022.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified October 01, 2026