MD
Professor of Surgery and Pharmacology; Oliver Smithies Investigator
Director, UNC Lineberger Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence
Vice Chair for Research, Department of Surgery
UNC-Chapel Hill
Clinical Research
Gastrointestinal Oncology Program
Area of Interest
Jen Jen Yeh, MD, maintains an active clinical practice taking care of patients with endocrine (thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal) diseases and pancreatic cancer. Her research focus centers on the use of genomics to identify new approaches for pancreatic cancer.
Yeh received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University and completed her general surgery residency at the Boston Medical Center, a research fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and a surgical oncology fellowship at the Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
In 2015, Yeh identified new molecular subtypes of pancreatic cancer that have may have biological and clinical significance. To translate molecular subtypes to the clinic, her group developed a single sample classifier that is now being developed for clinical use. Yeh and her collaborators also have developed a device that could help drive chemotherapy drugs directly into pancreatic tumor tissue to prevent their growth and shrink them. Yeh co-founded Advanced Chemotherapeutic Technologies, Inc. in order to bring the device into clinical trials. Yeh’s group is focused on identifying vulnerabilities in tumors to guide treatment for patients.
Recent PublicationsReal-time Genomic Characterization of Advanced Pancreatic Cancer to Enable Precision Medicine. Aguirre AJ, Nowak JA, Camarda ND, Moffitt RA, Ghazani AA, Hazar-Rethinam M, Raghavan S, Kim J, Brais LK, Ragon D, Welch MW, Reilly E, McCabe D, Marini L, Anderka K, Helvie K, Oliver N, Babic A, Da Silva A, Nadres B, Van Seventer EE, Shahzade HA, St Pierre JP, Burke KP, Clancy T, Cleary JM, Doyle LA, Jajoo K, McCleary NJ, Meyerhardt JA, Murphy JE, Ng K, Patel AK, Perez K, Rosenthal MH, Rubinson DA, Ryou M, Shapiro GI, Sicinska E, Silverman SG, Nagy RJ, Lanman RB, Knoerzer D, Welsch DJ, Yurgelun MB, Fuchs CS, Garraway LA, Getz G, Hornick JL, Johnson BE, Kulke MH, Mayer RJ, Miller JW, Shyn PB, Tuveson DA, Wagle N, Yeh JJ, Hahn WC, Corcoran RB, Carter SL, Wolpin BM. Cancer Discov. 2018 Sep;8(9):1096-1111. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-18-0275. Epub 2018 Jun 14.
Stromal Content Is Correlated With Tissue Site, Contrast Retention, and Survival in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. Torphy RJ, Wang Z, True-Yasaki A, Volmar KE, Rashid N, Yeh B, Anderson JM, Johansen JS, Hollingsworth MA, Yeh JJ, Collisson EA. JCO Precis Oncol. 2018;2018. doi: 10.1200/PO.17.00121. Epub 2018 Jan 16.
Genomics-Driven Precision Medicine for Advanced Pancreatic Cancer – Early Results from the COMPASS Trial. Aung KL, Fischer SE, Denroche RE, Jang GH, Dodd A, Creighton S, Southwood B, Liang SB, Chadwick D, Zhang A, O’Kane GM, Albaba HAA, Moura S, Grant RC, Miller JK, Mbabaali F, Pasternack D, Lungu IM, Bartlett JMS, Ghai S, Lemire M, Holter S, Connor AA, Moffitt RA, Yeh JJ, Timms L, Krzyzanowski PM, Dhani NC, Hedley DW, Notta F, Wilson JM, Moore MJ, Gallinger S, Knox JJ. Clin Cancer Res. 2017 Dec 29. pii: clincanres.2994.2017. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-17-2994. PMID: 29288237
Integrated Genomic Characterization of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network. Electronic address: andrew_aguirre@dfci.harvard.edu; Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network. Cancer Cell. 2017 Aug 14;32(2):185-203.e13. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2017.07.007. PMID:28810144
Iontophoretic device delivery for the localized treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Byrne JD, Jajja MR, Schorzman AN, Keeler AW, Luft JC, Zamboni WC, DeSimone JM, Yeh JJ. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Feb 8. pii: 201600421. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 26858448
Metformin Treatment Does Not Inhibit Growth of Pancreatic Cancer Patient-Derived Xenografts. Lipner MB, Marayati R, Deng Y, Wang X, Raftery L, O’Neil BH, Yeh JJ. PLoS One. 2016 Jan 13;11(1):e0147113. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147113. eCollection 2016. PMID: 26760500
Virtual microdissection identifies distinct tumor- and stroma-specific subtypes of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Moffitt RA, Marayati R, Flate EL, Volmar KE, Loeza SG, Hoadley KA, Rashid NU, Williams LA, Eaton SC, Chung AH, Smyla JK, Anderson JM, Kim HJ, Bentrem DJ, Talamonti MS, Iacobuzio-Donahue CA, Hollingsworth MA, Yeh JJ. Nat Genet. 2015 Oct;47(10):1168-78. doi: 10.1038/ng.3398. Epub 2015 Sep 7. PMID: 26343385
Local iontophoretic administration of cytotoxic therapies to solid tumors. Byrne JD, Jajja MR, O’Neill AT, Bickford LR, Keeler AW, Hyder N, Wagner K, Deal A, Little RE, Moffitt RA, Stack C, Nelson M, Brooks CR, Lee W, Luft JC, Napier ME, Darr D, Anders CK, Stack R, Tepper JE, Wang AZ, Zamboni WC, Yeh JJ, DeSimone JM. Sci Transl Med. 2015 Feb 4;7(273):273ra14. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3009951. PMID: 25653220
News and Stories
Leading researchers provide insights on aggressive cancers at scientific symposium
UNC Lineberger’s 45th annual Scientific Symposium featured talks on the latest research on pancreatic cancer, tumor microenvironments, metastatic disease and immunotherapy.
AACR annual meeting to feature UNC Lineberger research
UNC Lineberger researchers and trainees will present nearly 20 research talks and presentations at the 2022 American Association for Cancer Research, April 8-13, in New Orleans.
Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence to leverage research and clinical care innovations for patients
The Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence brings together researchers, clinicians and staff to provide excellent multidisciplinary patient care and generate research discoveries that can be translated into new, more effective approaches for pancreatic cancer.
Advancing pancreatic cancer research and care
Pancreatic cancer is an extremely challenging cancer to treat and has an increasing incidence in the United States. Fortunately, pancreatic cancer research is being conducted at UNC Lineberger.
