Jennifer R. Wang, M.D., ScM, FRCSC
Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Division of Surgery
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Division of Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2015 | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA, ScM, Master of Science, Genetic Epidemiology |
| 2010 | University of Toronto, Toronto, CAN, MD, Doctor of Medicine |
| 2006 | McMaster University, Hamilton, CAN, BHSc, Bachelor of Health Sciences |
Postgraduate Training
| 2017-2018 | Clinical Fellowship, Advanced Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
| 2013-2015 | Research Residency, Clinician Investigator Program, University of Toronto, Toronto |
| 2010-2017 | Clinical Residency, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto |
Board Certifications
| 2017 | Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada |
Experience & Service
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Associate Medical Director, Endocrine Center, Department of Head and Neck Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2021 - Present
Institutional Committee Activities
Member, Physician Advisory Board, 2019 - Present
Voting Member, MD Anderson Data and Biospecimen Access Committee (DBAC), 2019 - Present
Member, MD Anderson Endocrine Center Steering Committee, 2019 - Present
Member, MD Anderson Department of Head and Neck Surgery Clinical Operations Team (HNS COLT), 2019 - Present
Honors & Awards
| 2018 | Conquer Cancer Foundation Merit Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology |
| 2018 | Fellow, ECCO-AACR-EORTC-ESMO Methods in Clinical Cancer Research |
| 2015 | Chapnik, Freeman & Friedberg Clinician-Scientist Award, University of Toronto |
| 2014 | William S. Fenwick Research Fellowship Award, University of Toronto |
| 2014 | Alando J. Ballantyne Resident Research Award, American Head and Neck Society |
| 2010 | Hugh Barber Scholarship in Otolaryngology, University of Toronto |
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Maniakas A, Henderson YC, Hei H, Peng S, Chen Y, Jiang Y, Ji S, Cardenas M, Chiu Y, Bell D, Williams MD, Hofmann MC, Scherer SE, Wheeler DA, Busaidy NL, Dadu R, Wang JR, Cabanillas ME, Zafereo M, Johnson FM, Lai SY. Novel anaplastic thyroid cancer PDXs and cell lines: Expanding preclinical models of genetic diversity. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 106(11):e4652-e4665, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34147031.
- Qin Y, Wang JR, Wang Y, Iyer P, Cote GJ, Busaidy NL, Dadu R, Zafereo M, Williams MD, Ferrarotto R, Gunn GB, Wei P, Patel K, Hofmann MC, Cabanillas ME. Clinical Utility of Circulating Cell-free DNA Mutations in Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma. Thyroid 31(8):1235-1243, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33599171.
- Chasen NN, Wang JR, Gan Q, Ahmed S. Imaging of Cervical Lymph Nodes in Thyroid Cancer. Neuroimaging Clin N Am 31(3):313-326, 2021. PMID: 34243866.
- Cabanillas ME, Ahmed S, Wang JR. Management of Anaplastic and Recurrent Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: Indications for Surgical Resection, Molecular Testing, and Systemic Therapy. Neuroimaging Clin N Am 31(3):359-366, 2021. PMID: 34243870.
- Gao R, Bai S, Henderson YC, Lin Y, Schalck A, Yan Y, Kumar T, Hu M, Sei E, Davis A, Wang F, Shaitelman SF, Wang JR, Chen K, Moulder S, Lai SY, Navin NE. Delineating copy number and clonal substructure in human tumors from single-cell transcriptomes. Nat Biotechnol 39(5):599-608, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33462507.
- Jozaghi Y, Zafereo M, Williams MD, Gule-Monroe MK, Wang JR, Grubbs EG, Vaporciyan A, Hu MI, Busaidy N, Dadu R, Waguespack SG, Subbiah V, Cabanillas M. Neoadjuvant selpercatinib for advanced medullary thyroid cancer. Head Neck 43(1):E7-E12, 2021. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33169506.
- Jiang Y, Yu K, Ji S, Shin SJ, Cao S, Montierth MD, Huang L, Kopetz S, Msaouel P, Wang JR, Kimmel M, Zhu H, Wang W. CliP: subclonal architecture reconstruction of cancer cells in DNA sequencing data using a penalized likelihood model. bioRxiv, 2021.
- Wang JR, Cao S, Ji S, Yang P, Chen J, Montierth MD, Shen JP, Lee, JJ, Guerrero PA, Yu K, Livingstone J, Bhandari V, Hubert SM, Daw NC, Futreal PA, Efstathiou E, Lim B, Vaile A, Zhang J, Maitra A, Kopetz S, Campbell P, Speed TP, Boutros PC, Urbanucci A, Zhu H, Demeulemeester J, Van Loo P, Wang W. Differing total mRNA expression shapes the molecular and clinical phenotype of cancer. bioRxiv, 2020.
- Cabanillas ME, Dadu R, Iyer P, Wanland KB, Busaidy NL, Ying A, Gule-Monroe M, Wang JR, Zafereo M, Hofmann MC. Acquired Secondary RAS Mutation in BRAFV600E-Mutated Thyroid Cancer Patients Treated with BRAF Inhibitors. Thyroid 30(9):1288-1296, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32216548.
- Maniakas A, Dadu R, Busaidy NL, Wang JR, Ferrarotto R, Lu C, Williams MD, Gunn GB, Hofmann MC, Cote G, Sperling J, Gross ND, Sturgis EM, Goepfert RP, Lai SY, Cabanillas ME, Zafereo M. Evaluation of Overall Survival in Patients With Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma, 2000-2019. JAMA Oncol 6(9):1397-1404, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32761153.
- Anastasios Maniakas A, Mohamed A, Henderson Y, Hei H, Peng S, Bell D, Williams MD, Scherer S, Wheeler DA, Clayman GL, Zafereo M, Wang JR, Cabanillas ME, Stephan C, Johnson FM, Lai SY. In vivo drug response evaluation in anaplastic thyroid cancer patient-derived tumor xenografts following high-throughput screening. American Association for Cancer Research 80(16 Supplement):1662-1662, 2020.
- Jozaghi Y, Zafereo ME, Perrier ND, Wang JR, Grubbs E, Gross ND, Fisher S, Sturgis EM, Goepfert RP, Lai SY, Best C, Busaidy NL, Cabanillas ME, Dadu R, Gagel RF, Habra MA, Hu MI, Jimenez C, Sherman SI, Thosani S, Varghese J, Waguespack SG, Weitzman S, Ying AK, Graham PH. Endocrine surgery in the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: Surgical Triage Guidelines. Head Neck 42(6):1325-1328, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32437031.
- MD Anderson Head and Neck Surgery Treatment Guidelines Consortium, Consortium members, Maniakas A, Jozaghi Y, Zafereo ME, Sturgis EM, Su SY, Gillenwater AM, Gidley PW, Lewis CM, Diaz E, Goepfert RP, Kupferman ME, Gross ND, Hessel AC, Pytynia KB, Nader ME, Wang JR, Lango MN, Kiong KL, Guo T, Zhao X, Yao CMKL, Appelbaum E, Alpard J, Garcia JA, Terry S, Flynn JE, Bauer S, Fournier D, Burgess CG, Wideman C, Johnston M, You C, De Luna R, Joseph L, Diersing J, Prescott K, Heiberger K, Mugartegui L, Rodriguez J, Zendehdel S, Sellers J, Friddell RA, Thomas A, Khanjae SJ, Schwarzlose KB, Chambers MS, Hofstede TM, Cardoso RC, Wesson RA, Won A, Otun AO, Gombos DS, Al-Zubidi N, Hutcheson KA, Gunn GB, Rosenthal DI, Gillison ML, Ferrarotto R, Weber RS, Hanna EY, Myers JN, Lai SY. Head and neck surgical oncology in the time of a pandemic: Subsite-specific triage guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Head Neck 42(6):1194-1201, 2020. PMID: 32342541.
- Ren J, Xu W, Su J, Ren X, Cheng D, Chen Z, Bender N, Mirshams M, Habbous S, de Almeida JR, Perez-Ordonez B, Goldstein DP, Wang JR, Bratman SV, Huang SH, Jang R, Zhao Y, Waterboer T, Hung RJ, Liu G. Multiple imputation and clinico-serological models to predict human papillomavirus status in oropharyngeal carcinoma: An alternative when tissue is unavailable. Int J Cancer 146(8):2166-2174, 2020. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31269236.
- Wang JR, Nurgalieva Z, Fu S, Tam S, Zhao H, Giordano SH, Hutcheson KA, Lewis CM. Utilization of rehabilitation services in patients with head and neck cancer in the United States: A SEER-Medicare analysis. Head Neck 41(9):3299-3308, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31240808.
- Wang JR, Zafereo ME, Dadu R, Ferrarotto R, Busaidy NL, Lu C, Ahmed S, Gule-Monroe MK, Williams MD, Sturgis EM, Goepfert RP, Gross ND, Lai SY, Gunn GB, Phan J, Rosenthal DI, Fuller CD, Morrison WH, Iyer P, Cabanillas ME. Complete Surgical Resection Following Neoadjuvant Dabrafenib Plus Trametinib in BRAFV600E-Mutated Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma. Thyroid 29(8):1036-1043, 2019. PMID: 31319771.
- Ren S, Gaykalova D, Wang JR, Guo T, Danilova L, Favorov A, Fertig E, Bishop J, Khan Z, Flam E, Wysocki PT, DeJong P, Ando M, Liu C, Sakai A, Fukusumi T, Haft S, Sadat S, Califano JA. Discovery and development of differentially methylated regions in human papillomavirus-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Int J Cancer 143(10):2425-2436, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30070359.
- Tao Y, Sturgis EM, Huang Z, Wang Y, Wei P, Wang JR, Wei Q, Li G. TGFβ1 Genetic Variants Predict Clinical Outcomes of HPV-Positive Oropharyngeal Cancer Patients after Definitive Radiotherapy. Clin Cancer Res 24(9):2225-2233, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29463556.
- Gama RR, Song Y, Zhang Q, Brown MC, Wang JR, Habbous S, Tong L, Huang SH, O’Sullivan B, Waldron J, Xu W, Goldstein D, Liu G. Body mass index and prognosis in patients with head and neck cancer. Head & Neck 39(6):1226-1233, 2017.
- Wang JR, Habbous S, Espin-Garcia O, Chen D, Huang SH, Simpson C, Xu W, Liu FF, Brown DH, Gilbert RW, Gullane PJ, Irish JC, Goldstein DP, Liu G. Comorbidity and performance status as independent prognostic factors in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Head Neck 38(5):736-42, 2016. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25521753.
- Wang JR, Gramling SJ, Goldstein DP, Cheng D, Chen D, Azad AK, Tse A, Hon H, Chen Z, Mirshams M, Simpson C, Huang SH, Marquez S, O'Sullivan B, Liu FF, Roberts H, Xu W, Brown DH, Gilbert RW, Gullane PJ, Irish JC, Reisman DN, Liu G. Association of two BRM promoter polymorphisms with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma risk. Carcinogenesis 34(5):1012-7, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23322154.
- Wang JR , Yuen HW, Shipp DB, Lin VYW, Chen JM, Nedzelski JM. Cochlear Implantation in Patients with Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease (Including Cogan's Syndrome): A Comparison with Age and Sex Matched Controls. The Laryngoscope 120(12):2478-2483, 2010.
- Higgins KM, Wang JR. State of head and neck surgical oncology research--a review and critical appraisal of landmark studies. Head Neck 30(12):1636-42, 2008. PMID: 18642286.
- Henderson YC, Mohamed ASR, Maniakas A, Chen Y, Powell RT, Peng S, Cardenas M, Williams MD, Bell D, Zafereo ME, Wang JR, Scherer SE, Wheeler DA, Cabanillas ME, Hofmann MC, Johnson FM, Stephan CC, Sandulache V, Lai SY. A High-Throughput Approach to Identify Effective Systemic Agents for the Treatment of Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 39(5):599-608. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34120183.
Book Chapters
- Wang JR. Benign Neoplasms of the Salivary Glands. In: Cummings Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. 7. Elsevier, 2020.
- Wang JR, Bell D, Ferrarotto R, Weber RS, Su S. Malignant Salivary Tumors. Surgery of the Salivary Glands. In: Health Sciences. 1. Elsevier, 286-302, 2019.
- Fernandez V, Oyewumi M, Wang JR. The Head & Neck Exam. In: Essentials of Clinical Examination Handbook. 6, 2010.
Grant & Contract Support
| Title: | “Defining the Role of SWI/SNF Mutations in Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma” |
| Funding Source: | American Thyroid Association and ThyCA:Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association (ThyCa) |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | “Chromatin Remodeling and Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma” |
| Funding Source: | American Head and Neck Society Alando J. Ballantyne Resident Research Pilot Grant |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Expression of chromatin proteins in primary oral squamous cell carcinoma tumors” |
| Funding Source: | Harry Barberian Research Grant, University of Toronto |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Intratumor Heterogeneity in Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma: Implications for Treatment Resistance |
| Funding Source: | The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, ASPIRE Grant |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |