Jason A Willis, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Gastrointestinal (GI) Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Assistant Professor (Joint appointment), Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Gastrointestinal (GI) Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Assistant Professor, Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Research Interests
Ongoing Research Support
5T32CA009666-23 (PI:Davies) 9/30/1994-04/30/2020
NIH/NCI
Research Training in Academic Medical Oncology
Major Goal: The MC Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) T32 Research Training in Academic Medical Oncology Program provides two years of academic research training to fellows who demonstrated strong commitment to a career as a physician scientist or translational clinical investigator in medical oncology.
Role: Trainee
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2014 | Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, US, MD |
| 2013 | Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, US, Physiology, Biophysics and Systems Biology, Ph.D |
| 2004 | Occidental College, Los Angeles, California, US, Biochemistry, BA |
Postgraduate Training
| 2016-2019 | Clinical Fellowship, Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas |
| 2014-2016 | Clinical Residency, Internal Medicine, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland |
Licenses & Certifications
| 2019 | Medical Oncology |
| 2018 | Internal Medicine |
| 2018 | Texas Medical Board |
Experience & Service
Faculty Academic Appointments
Instructor, Department of Clinical Cancer Prevention, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2019 - 2020
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Chief Fellow, Hematology and Oncology Fellowship Training Program, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2018 - 2019
Intramural Institutional Committee Activities
Member, Navigation Leadership Team, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2021 - Present
Extramural Institutional Committee Activities
Reviewer, 2020 Summer Research Program in Cancer Prevention, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2020 - Present
Honors & Awards
| 2019 | Conquer Cancer Foundation Merit Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology |
| 2019 | Humanitas Award, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2019 | Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital 3rd Year Fellow of the Year Award, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2018 | Rising Star in Oncology, Society for Translational Oncology |
| 2017 | Clifton D. Howe Award for Clinical Excellence, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2002 | Cynthia Cox Memorial Award, Occidental College |
| 2002 | Eileen L. Norris Research Fellowship, Occidental College |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
Local Presentations
- 2025. Vaccine Strategies for Cancer Interception in Lynch Syndrome. Invited. 8th Annual Hereditary Cancer Symposium for Health Care Providers. Houston, Texas, US.
- 2024. Novel clinical strategies for interception of colorectal pre-cancers in Lynch Syndrome. Invited. Research Town Hall. Houston, Texas, US.
National Presentations
- 2025. “Updates in Lynch Syndrome: screening and prevention”. Invited. The US Oncology Network Hereditary Genetics and Precision Medicine Conference 2025; Nashville, TN. Nashville, TN, US.
- 2025. Nous-209 off-the-shelf neoantigen immunotherapy induces robust neoantigen T cell response with the potential to intercept cancer in Lynch syndrome carriers. Conference. American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2025, US.
- 2024. Novel strategies for immune interception of cancers in Lynch Syndrome. Invited. Maine Cancer Genomics Initiative Forum. Portland, Maine, US.
- 2023. Novel vaccine-based approaches for cancer immune interception in Lynch Syndrome. Invited. National Society of Genetic Counselors 42nd Annual Conference. Chicago, Illinois, US.
- 2023. Colorectal Cancer: Updates in Current Screening Guidelines and Treatment. Invited. Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Care Symposium. San Diego, California, US.
- 2019. "CMC Classification and Survivorship.". Conference. GI CONNECT Interactive Masterclass on CRC Management. Los Angeles, CA, US.
- 2019. "Breakthroughs in colorectal cancer research: a focus on early detection.". Conference. 2019 Church Health Conference - Eyes Have Not Seen, Ears Have Not Heard: Breakthroughs in Cancer Research. Houston, TX, US.
- 2019. "Novel biomarker discovery in early colorectal cancer tumorigenesis: towards refined risk-prediction and prevention.". Conference. Division of Cancer Medicine Grand Rounds, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Houston, TX, US.
Grant & Contract Support
| Date: | 2024 - Present |
| Title: | Molecular Understanding of Racial/Ethnic Survival Disparity in Colorectal and Other Cancers |
| Funding Source: | CPRIT |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | RP250325 |
| Date: | 2022 - 2023 |
| Title: | Point of care detection of genetic and epigenetic biomarkers associated with colorectal carcinoma (CRC) |
| Funding Source: | UT Austin/MD Anderson Cancer Center Collaborative Pilot Project Grants |
| Role: | Co-I |
| Date: | 2022 - 2027 |
| Title: | Clinical Validation Center for Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | U01CA200468 |
| Date: | 2022 - 2026 |
| Title: | Cancer Immune-Interception for Lynch Syndrome |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | 1R01CA257375-01 |
| Date: | 2021 - 2022 |
| Title: | Paul Calabresi Clinical Oncology Research Career Development Program |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | K12 CA088084 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| Title: | Assessment of germline and sporadic molecular profiles of non-Caucasian early onset colorectal cancer”, MD Anderson SPORE in Gastrointestinal Cancer: Career Enhancement Program |
| Funding Source: | MD Anderson SPORE |
| Role: | PI |
| Date: | 2020 - 2021 |
| Title: | MD Anderson Cancer Center SPORE in Gastrointestinal Cancer |
| Funding Source: | The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| Role: | Principal Investigator-MDACC |
| ID: | 5P50 CA221707-03 |
| Date: | 2019 - 2024 |
| Title: | iCAN-PREVENT Consortium (for International Cancer Prevention Clinical Trial Consortium) |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | 1UG1CA242609-01 |
| Title: | Building a Refined Model of Colorectal Carcinogenesis by Molecular Subclassification of Premalignant Tissue |
| Funding Source: | American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) |
| Role: | PI |
| Title: | Mapping the clonal evolution of molecular subtypes in colorectal pre-malignancy |
| Funding Source: | MD Anderson Cancer Center SPORE in Gastrointestinal Cancer |
| Role: | PI |
| Title: | Understanding the inequalities in the molecular, biologic, biomedical, clinical data quality in underserved populations and the impact on health disparities found in colorectal cancer |
| Funding Source: | Emerson Collective |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| Title: | A comprehensive study to define the molecular subtypes of pre-malignant colorectal tissue: towards a refined model of colorectal carcinogenesis and novel prevention strategies |
| Funding Source: | Colorectal Cancer Moonshot Program |
| Role: | Co-I |
| Title: | A Phase IIa, Placebo-Controlled, Randomized Study of Daily Obeticholic Acid (OCA) to Reduce Intestinal Polyp Burden in Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP) |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Network |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | UG1CA242609 |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Pellatt, AJ, Barnett, RM, Gnerre, S, Edwards, K, Willis, JA, Overmann, MJ, Raghav, KS, Parseghian, C, Dasari, NV, Morelli, MP, Bent, AH, Eluri, M, Hornstein, N, Drusbosky, L, Kopetz, S, Morris, VK. Detection of oncogenic fusions in colorectal cancer using a partner-agnostic next-generation sequencing approach. BMC cancer 25(1), 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40696295.
- Lewis, KA, Lyu, H, Yammanur, M, Larsson, L, Willis, JA, Smaglo, BG, Katz, MH, Snyder, RA. Real-time implementation and validation of a natural language processing tool to improve clinical trial enrollment in pancreatic cancer. JCO Oncology Practice 21:127, 2025. e-Pub 2025.
- Morris VK, Parseghian CM, Bahrambeigi V, Abdelfattah N, Xiao L, Agrawal A, Lin K, Raghav KPS, Wolff RA, Dasari A, Huey RW, Kee BK, Overman MJ, Willis JA, Le PH, Escano M, Baig YC, Pan K, Menter D, Tam AL, Foo WC, Shen L, Lee HM, Gallup TD, Margain C, Gallup D, Rajapakshe KI, Guerrero PA, Wang J, Corcoran RB, Maitra A, Yun K, Kopetz S. Phase 1/2 trial of encorafenib, cetuximab, and nivolumab in microsatellite stable BRAF(V600E) metastatic colorectal cancer. Cancer Cell, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40882637.
- Pellatt, AJ, Bent, AH, Hornstein, N, Parseghian, C, Huey, RW, Raghav, KS, Morris, VK, Overman, MJ, Morelli, P, Willis, JA, Le, PH, Shen, JY, Kee, BK, Eluri, M, Higbie, V, Alfaro-Munoz, KD, Aziz, KE, Kell, R, Sun, R, Kopetz, S, Dasari, NV. Phase II Trial of TAS-102 in Colorectal Cancer Patients With Circulating Tumor DNA-Defined Minimal Residual Disease After Adjuvant Therapy. JCO Precis Oncol 9, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40669021.
- White, MG, Ayabe, RI, Zeineddine, MA, Zeineddine, F, Yousef, A, Yousef, M, Galbraith, NJ, Iorgulescu, JB, Scally, CP, Fournier, KF, Newhook, TE, You, YN, Willis, JA, Kopetz, S, Chang, GJ, Shen, JY, Uppal, A. Tumoral and circulating genomic landscape inform survival differences in colorectal carcinomatosis. Transl Oncol 55, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40184716.
- Alshenaifi JY, Vetere G, Maddalena G, Yousef M, White MG, Shen JP, Vilar E, Parseghian C, Dasari A, Morris VK, Huey R, Overman MJ, Wolff R, Raghav KP, Willis J, Alfaro K, Futreal A, You YN, Kopetz S. Mutational and co-mutational landscape of early onset colorectal cancer. Biomarkers 30(1):64-76, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39761813.
- Yousef, A, Yousef, M, Chowdhury, S, Abdilleh, K, Knafl, M, Edelkamp, P, Alfaro-Munoz, KD, Chacko, R, Peterson, J, Smaglo, BG, Wolff, RA, Pant, S, Lee, MS, Willis, JA, Overman, MJ, Doss, S, Matrisian, L, Hurd, MW, Snyder, RA, Katz, MH, Wang, H, Maitra, A, Shen, JP, Zhao, D. Impact of KRAS mutations and co-mutations on clinical outcomes in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. NPJ Precis Oncol 8(1), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38310130.
- Yousef, M, Yousef, A, Chowdhury, S, Fanaeian, M, Knafl, M, Peterson, J, Zeineddine, MA, Alfaro, KD, Zeineddine, F, Goldstein, D, Hornstein, N, Dasari, NV, Huey, RW, Johnson, B, Serpas Higbie, V, Bent, AH, Kee, BK, Lee, MS, Morelli, MP, Morris, VK, Halperin, DM, Overman, MJ, Parseghian, C, Vilar Sanchez, E, Wolff, RA, Raghav, KS, White, MG, Uppal, A, Sun, R, Wang, W, Kopetz, S, Willis, JA, Shen, JY. Molecular, Socioeconomic, and Clinical Factors Affecting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Survival. JAMA Oncol 10(11), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39264607.
- Ludmir EB, Sherry AD, Fellman BM, Liu S, Bathala T, Haymaker C, Medina-Rosales MN, Reuben A, Holliday EB, Smith GL, Noticewala SS, Nicholas S, Price TR, Martin-Paulpeter RM, Perles LA, Lee SS, Lee MS, Smaglo BG, Huey RW, Willis J, Zhao D, Cohen L, Taniguchi CM, Koay EJ, Katz MHG, Wolff RA, Das P, Pant S, Koong AC, Tang C. Addition of Metastasis-Directed Therapy to Systemic Therapy for Oligometastatic Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (EXTEND): A Multicenter, Randomized Phase II Trial. J Clin Oncol 42(32):3795-3805, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39102622.
- Balachandran Pillai, A, Yousef, M, Yousef, A, Alfaro-Munoz, KD, Smaglo, BG, Willis, JA, Wolff, RA, Pant, S, Hurd, MW, Maitra, A, Wang, H, Katz, MH, Prakash, L, Tzeng, CD, Snyder, RA, Castelnovo, LF, Chen, A, Kravets, A, Kudriavtseva, K, Tarasov, A, Kryukov, K, Ying, H, Shen, JY, Zhao, D. Molecular and Clinical Features of Pancreatic Acinar Cell Carcinoma. Cancers 16(19), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39410042.
- Hutchings, KR, Al Zaki, A, Bhadkamkar, NA, Willis, JA. Symptomatic pseudoprogression in metastatic colorectal cancer. BMJ Case Reports 17(6), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38871645.
- Hutchings, KR, Al Zaki, A, Bhadkamkar, NA, Willis, JA. Symptomatic pseudoprogression in metastatic colorectal cancer. BMJ Case Reports 17(6), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38871645.
- Chang, E, Wong, FC, Chasen, B, Erwin, WD, Das, P, Holliday, EB, Koong, A, Ludmir, EB, Minsky, B, Noticewala, SS, Smith, GL, Taniguchi, C, Rodriguez, MJ, Beddar, S, Martin, RM, Niedzielski, JS, Sawakuchi, GO, Schueler, E, Perles, LA, Xiao, L, Szklaruk, J, Park, PC, Dasari, NV, Kaseb, A, Kee, BK, Lee, SS, Overman, MJ, Willis, JA, Wolff, RA, Tzeng, CD, Vauthey, JN, Koay, EJ. Phase i trial of single-photon emission computed tomography-guided liver-directed radiotherapy for patients with low functional liver volume. JNCI Cancer Spectrum 8(3), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38730548.
- Shi, C, De, BS, Tran Cao, HS, Liu, S, Florez, MA, Kouzy, R, Grippin, A, Katz, MH, Tzeng, CD, Ikoma, N, Kim, M, Lee, S, Willis, JA, Noticewala, SS, Minsky, B, Smith, GL, Holliday, EB, Taniguchi, C, Koong, A, Das, P, Ludmir, EB, Koay, EJ. Escalated-dose radiotherapy for unresected locally advanced pancreatic cancer. Cancer medicine 13(12), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38923407.
- Yousef M, Yousef A, Chowdhury S, Fanaeian MM, Knafl M, Peterson J, Zeineddine M, Alfaro K, Zeineddine F, Goldstein D, Hornstein N, Dasari A, Huey R, Johnson B, Higbie V, Bent A, Kee B, Lee M, Morelli MP, Morris VK, Halperin D, Overman M, Parseghian C, Vilar E, Wolff R, Raghav K, White MG, Uppal A, Sun R, Wang W, Kopetz S, Willis J, Shen JP. Understanding Causes of Racial/Ethnic Survival Disparity in 47,178 Patients with Colorectal Cancer: Evaluation of Molecular, Socioeconomic, and Clinical Factors. JAMA Oncology. e-Pub 2024.
- Johnson, B, Morris, VK, Wang, X, Dasari, NV, Raghav, KS, Shen, JY, Lee, MS, Huey, RW, Parseghian, C, Willis, JA, Wolff, RA, Drusbosky, L, Overman, MJ, Kopetz, S. Comprehensive Landscape of BRAF Variant Classes, Clonalities, and Co-Mutations in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Using ctDNA Profiling. Cancers 16(4), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38398128.
- Simmons, K, Thomas, J, Ludford, K, Willis, JA, Serpas Higbie, V, Raghav, KS, Johnson, B, Dasari, NV, Kee, BK, Parseghian, C, Lee, MS, Le, PH, Morelli, MP, Shen, JY, Bent, AH, Vilar Sanchez, E, Wolff, RA, Kopetz, S, Overman, MJ, Morris, VK. Sustained Disease Control in Immune Checkpoint Blockade Responders with Microsatellite Instability-high Colorectal Cancer after Treatment Termination. Cancer Research Communications 3(12):2510-2517, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 38085001.
- Napolitano S, Parikh AR, Henry J, Parseghian CM, Willis J, Raghav KP, Morris VK, Johnson B, Kee BK, Dasari AN, Overman MJ, Luthra R, Drusbosky LM, Corcoran RB, Kopetz S, Sun R. Novel Clinical Tool to Estimate Risk of False-Negative KRAS Mutations in Circulating Tumor DNA Testing. JCO Precis Oncol 7:e2300228, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37824798.
- Yousef A, Yousef M, Chowdhury S, Abdilleh K, Knafl M, Edelkamp P, Alfaro-Munoz K, Chacko R, Peterson J, Smaglo BG, Wolff RA, Pant S, Lee MS, Willis J, Overman M, Doss S, Matrisian L, Hurd MW, Snyder R, Katz MHG, Wang H, Maitra A, Shen JP, Zhao D. Impact of KRAS Mutations and Co-mutations on Clinical Outcomes in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. Res Sq, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37609177.
- Zeineddine FA, Zeineddine MA, Yousef A, Gu Y, Chowdhury S, Dasari A, Huey RW, Johnson B, Kee B, Lee MS, Morelli MP, Morris VK, Overman MJ, Parseghian C, Raghav K, Willis J, Wolff RA, Kawaguchi Y, Vauthey JN, Sun R, Kopetz S, Shen JP. Survival improvement for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer over twenty years. NPJ Precis Oncol 7(1):16, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36781990.
- Parseghian CM, Sun R, Woods M, Napolitano S, Lee HM, Alshenaifi J, Willis J, Nunez S, Raghav KP, Morris VK, Shen JP, Eluri M, Sorokin A, Kanikarla P, Vilar E, Rehn M, Ang A, Troiani T, Kopetz S. Resistance Mechanisms to Anti-Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Therapy in RAS/RAF Wild-Type Colorectal Cancer Vary by Regimen and Line of Therapy. J Clin Oncol 41(3):460-471, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36351210.
- Serpas Higbie V, Rogers J, Hwang H, Qiao W, Xiao L, Dasari A, Mola-Rudd K, Morris VK, Wolff RA, Raghav K, Huey R, Parseghian C, Willis J, Kopetz S, Overman MJ, Johnson B. Antibiotic Exposure Does Not Impact Immune Checkpoint Blockade Response in MSI-H/dMMR Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Single-Center Experience. Oncologist 27(11):952-957, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35946836.
- Willis JA, Overman MJ. Inducing Hypermutability to Promote Anti-PD-1 Therapy Response. Cancer Discov 12(7):1612-1614, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35791694.
- Liang S, Willis J, Dou J, Mohanty V, Huang Y, Vilar E, Chen K. Sensei: how many samples to tell a change in cell type abundance?. BMC Bioinformatics 23(1):2, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 34983369.
- Bommi PV, Bowen CM, Reyes-Uribe L, Wu W, Katayama H, Rocha P, Parra ER, Francisco-Cruz A, Ozcan Z, Tosti E, Willis JA, Wu H, Taggart MW, Burks JK, Lynch PM, Edelmann W, Scheet PA, Wistuba II, Sinha KM, Hanash SM, Vilar E. The Transcriptomic Landscape of Mismatch Repair-Deficient Intestinal Stem Cells. Cancer Res 81(10):2760-2773, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34003775.
- Mehrvarz Sarshekeh A, Alshenaifi J, Roszik J, Manyam GC, Advani SM, Katkhuda R, Verma A, Lam M, Willis J, Shen JP, Morris J, Davis JS, Loree JM, Lee HM, Ajani JA, Maru DM, Overman MJ, Kopetz S. ARID1A Mutation May Define an Immunologically Active Subgroup in Patients with Microsatellite Stable Colorectal Cancer. Clin Cancer Res 27(6):1663-1670, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33414133.
- Willis J, Lefterova MI, Artyomenko A, Kasi PM, Nakamura Y, Mody K, Catenacci DVT, Fakih M, Barbacioru C, Zhao J, Sikora M, Fairclough SR, Lee H, Kim KM, Kim ST, Kim J, Gavino D, Benavides M, Peled N, Nguyen T, Cusnir M, Eskander RN, Azzi G, Yoshino T, Banks KC, Raymond VM, Lanman RB, Chudova DI, Talasaz A, Kopetz S, Lee J, Odegaard JI. Validation of Microsatellite Instability Detection Using a Comprehensive Plasma-Based Genotyping Panel. Clin Cancer Res 25(23):7035-7045, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31383735.
- Chang K, Willis JA, Reumers J, Taggart MW, San Lucas FA, Thirumurthi S, Kanth P, Delker DA, Hagedorn CH, Lynch PM, Ellis LM, Hawk ET, Scheet PA, Kopetz S, Arts J, Guinney J, Dienstmann R, Vilar E. Colorectal premalignancy is associated with consensus molecular subtypes 1 and 2. Ann Oncol 29(10):2061-2067, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30412224.
- Willis JA, Mukherjee S, Orlow I, Viale A, Offit K, Kurtz RC, Olson SH, Klein RJ. Genome-wide analysis of the role of copy-number variation in pancreatic cancer risk. Front Genet 5:29, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24592275.
- Willis JA, Olson SH, Orlow I, Mukherjee S, McWilliams RR, Kurtz RC, Klein RJ. A replication study and genome-wide scan of single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with pancreatic cancer risk and overall survival. Clin Cancer Res 18(14):3942-51, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22665904.
- Berezikov E, Chung WJ, Willis J, Cuppen E, Lai EC. Mammalian mirtron genes. Mol Cell 28(2):328-36, 2007. e-Pub 2007. PMID: 17964270.
- Tringe SG, Willis J, Liberatore KL, Ruby SW. The WTM genes in budding yeast amplify expression of the stress-inducible gene RNR3. Genetics 174(3):1215-28, 2006. e-Pub 2006. PMID: 16980392.
Invited Articles
- Willis JA, Reyes-Uribe L, Chang K, Lipkin SM, Vilar E. Immune Activation in Mismatch Repair Deficient Carcinogenesis: More Than Just Mutational rate. Clin Cancer Res 26(1):11-17, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 31383734.
Review Articles
- Morris VK, Kennedy EB, Baxter NN, Benson AB, Cercek A, Cho M, Ciombor KK, Cremolini C, Davis A, Deming DA, Fakih MG, Gholami S, Hong TS, Jaiyesimi I, Klute K, Lieu C, Sanoff H, Strickler JH, White S, Willis JA, Eng C. Treatment of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: ASCO Guideline. J Clin Oncol 41(3):678-700, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36252154.
Other Articles
- King N, Kukreja K, Murzabdillaeva A, Ali Y, Willis J, Maiti A, Ma H, Bull J A rare presentation of carcinosarcoma of the bone in a young female; response with gemcitabine and docetaxel. Clin Sarcoma Res 9:10-10, 2019. PMID: 31304003.
- Pemmaraju N, Jain P, Jeffrey Medeiros L, Jorgenson JL, Jain N, WillisJ, Kontoyiannis DP, Estrov Z, Wierda WG PET-positive lymphadenopathy in CLL—Not always Richter transformation. American Journal of Hematology 92(4), 2017.
Editorials
- Willis JA, Overman MJ, Vilar E. Mismatch repair-proficient colorectal cancer: finding the right time to respond. Clin Cancer Res 25(17):5185-5187, 2019. PMID: 31263028.
- Willis JA, Vilar E. Pharmacogenomics: time to rethink its role in precision medicine. Ann Oncol 29(2):293-295, 2018. PMID: 29236957.
- Willis JA, Vilar E. Refining prognosis in early-stage colorectal cancer: one or multiple genes at a time?. Ann Oncol 28(8):1686-1688, 2017. PMID: 28549076.
- Klein RJ, Xu X, Mukherjee S, Willis J, Hayes J. Successes of genome-wide association studies. Cell 142(3):350-1; author reply 353-5, 2010. PMID: 20691890.
Abstracts
- Morris VK, Parseghian CM, Escano M, Johnson B, Singh Raghav KP, Dasari A, Huey R, Overman MJ, Willis J, Lee MS, Wolff RA, Kee BK, YC Shen JP, Morelli MP, Tam A, Foo WC, Xiao L, Kopetz S. Phase I/II trial of encorafenib, cetuximab, and nivolumab in patients with microsatellite stable, BRAFV600E metastatic colorectal cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology 40(4_suppl), 2022. e-Pub 2022.
- Henry J, Willis J, Parseghian C, Raghav K, Johnson B, Dasari A, Stone D, Jeyakumar N, Coker O, Raymond V, Lanman R, Overman M, Kopetz S. NeoRAS: Incidence of RAS reversion from RAS mutated to RAS wild type. Journal of Clinical Oncology 38(4):180-180, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Sarshekeh A, Roszik J, Manyam G, Advani S, Willis J, Shen J, Morris J, Davis J, Ajani J, Maru D, Overman M, Kopetz S. ARID1A mutation to define an immunologically active subgroup in patients with microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology 38:4:215-215, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Willis, JA. "Exploring the Genetic Basis of Lynch-like Syndrome Through Paired Germline and Tumor Exome Sequencing". Presidential Plenary Abstract Session, 2019 Annual Meeting of Collaborative Group of the Americas on Inherited Gastrointestinal Cancer (CCGA-IGC), 2019. e-Pub 2019.
- Willis J, Mork ME, Chang K, Kinnison J, Rodriguez-Bigas MA, Thirumurthi S, Borras E, Taggart M, Lynch PM, You YN, Vilar Sanchez E. Exploring the genetic basis of Lynch-like syndrome through paired germlike and tumor exome sequencing. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2019. e-Pub 2019.
- Parseghian CM, Willis J, Morris VK, Raghav KPS, Dasari A, Raymond, VM, Lanman RB, Overman MJ, Kopetz S. Identifying anti-EGFR (EGFRi) response subgroups using evidence of ctDNA selective pressure. Journal of Clinical Oncology, Conference 37(Supplement 15), 2019. e-Pub 2019.
- Lefterova MI, Artyomenko A, Sikora M, Barbacioru C, Raymond VM, Gavino D, Artieri C, Helman E, Chudova D, Lanman RB, Odegaard JI, Willis JA, Fakih M, Kopetz S, Talasaz A. Development of a Plasma-based Method for Microsatellite Instability (MSI) Detection using a Next-generation Sequencing Panel. Journal of Molecular Diagnostics 30(3), 2019. e-Pub 2019.
- Artyomenko A, Sikora M, Lefterova M, Raymond VM, Gavino D, Barbaciouru C, Artieri C, Helman E, Chudova D, Lanman RB, Odegaard J, Willis J, Fakih M, Kopetz S, Talasaz A. Microsatellite instability detection by targeted sequencing of cell-free DNA. Annals of Oncology 29(Issue suppl 8), 2018. e-Pub 2018.
- Willis J, Morelli MP, Morris VK, Loree J, Lam M, Pereia AA, Raghav KP, Kee BK, Vilar Sanchez E, Eng C, Manuel S, Crosby S, Wolff RA, Lanman RB, Talasaz A, Janku F, Overman MJ, Kopetz S. Impact of microsatellite instability (MSI) on tumor clonal evolution in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2018. e-Pub 2018.
- Willis JA, Olsen SH, Mukherjee S, Gonen M, Kurtz RC, KLein RJ. "A replication study and genomewide scan of a single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with pancreatic cancer risk and overall survival.". 12th International Congress of Human Genetics, 2011. e-Pub 2011.
- Willis JA, Olson SH, Kurtz RC, Klein RJ. "Excess Germline Copy Number Variations Detected in Familial Pancreatic Cancer". 60th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, 2010. e-Pub 2010.
- Willis J, Leoni G, Cruz-Correa M, Hall MJ, Idos GE, Garzia I, Antonucci L, Cotugno G, Siani L, Gogov S, Liu D, Lee J, Vornik LA, Uribe LR, Garcia-Gonzalez A, Richmond E, Umar A, Brown PH, Rodriguez LM, Scarselli E, Vilar E. Nous-209 genetic vaccine encoding shared cancer neoantigens is safe and elicits robust immune response in healthy Lynch syndrome carriers: interim results from Phase 1 cancer interception trial. Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer 2023 Annual Meeting.
Book Chapters
- Willis JA, Jennifer B. Goldstein, Zhijing Zhang, Any Futreal. Cancer Genomics. In: The MD Anderson Manual of Medical Oncology. 4. McGraw Hill, 2022.
- Damodaran S, Wil|lis J, Roychowdhury S. Precision Cancer Medicine and Clinical Trial Design. In: Precision Cancer Medicine. Springer, Cham, 2019.
Letters to the Editor
- Yousef M, Yousef A, Hurd MW, Pillai A, Chowdhury S, Snyder R, Knafl M, Lewis RL, Roy PM, Fanaeian M, Albarouki S, Castelnovo LF, Peterson J, Smaglo BG, Wolff RA, Pant S, Willis J, Huey R, Overman M, Tzeng CW, Kim MP, Ikoma N, Maxwell JE, Katz MHG, Wang H, Maitra A, Koay E, Ludmir EB, Chen A, Lopez C, Ying H, Shen JP, Zhao D. KRAS mutation detection by liquid biopsy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. J Hematol Oncol 18: 44, 2025.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified March 29, 2026