UNC Lineberger’s Lisa Carey, MD, ScM, FASCO, was recently honored by OncLive as one of its 2025 Giants of Cancer Care for her significant contributions that have advanced the treatment and study of breast cancer. She and 12 others were recognized during a ceremony at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago on May 29.
Carey’s research focuses on the biology and drivers of breast cancer—from early-stage to advanced disease—with a special interest in how different tumor subtypes respond to treatment. She helped identify a higher risk of aggressive basal-like breast cancer in young and Black women and is a leading expert in triple-negative breast cancer, having led the first trial of a new treatment for this subtype.
She has led major studies using preoperative chemotherapy to improve outcomes and understand why some tumors respond better than others. One national trial she led showed that tumor characteristics, such as subtype and immune activity, play a bigger role in treatment success than the drugs used. She now leads an international team studying the genes behind these differences and is guiding two national trials to tailor treatments based on this information.
In addition, Carey founded a tumor donation program that revealed important genetic differences between original breast cancers and their metastases. This work helped launch the AURORA-US study of metastatic breast cancer, in which she serves on the steering committee.
“I’m honored to join this group of esteemed physicians and scientists working to improve outcomes for our cancer patients,” said Carey, the L. Richardson and Marilyn Jacobs Preyer Distinguished Professor for Breast Cancer Research at the UNC School of Medicine, deputy director of Clinical Sciences at UNC Lineberger and director of the UNC Lineberger Center for Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
Carey is the fourth UNC Lineberger member to receive this honor, following Hyman Muss, MD (2017); Charles M. Perou, PhD (2019); and Ethan Basch, MD, MSc (2024).
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