Daniel D. Von Hoff

Daniel D. Von Hoff, MD, FACP is Physician-in-Chief at HonorHealth Research Institute and Distinguished Professor at The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix, Arizona, with a clinical appointment at Mayo Clinic Arizona. He is one of the most prolific and influential drug developers in oncology history, having been involved in the clinical development of more than 100 anti-cancer agents, including several that are now standard of care worldwide. Dr. Von Hoff is best known in pancreatic cancer for leading the landmark MPACT trial (Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Clinical Trial), published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2013, which demonstrated that nab-paclitaxel (albumin-bound paclitaxel, Abraxane) combined with gemcitabine improved overall survival, progression-free survival, and response rate compared with gemcitabine alone in metastatic PDAC. This trial established nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine as one of two standard first-line regimens for metastatic PDAC (alongside FOLFIRINOX), fundamentally changing the treatment landscape. His mechanistic investigations revealed that nab-paclitaxel depletes the PDAC desmoplastic stroma by reducing SPARC levels, thereby enhancing gemcitabine delivery — a concept that advanced the field's understanding of how stromal barriers impede drug penetration. Beyond pancreatic cancer, Dr. Von Hoff has pioneered strategies for tumor molecular profiling to match patients with targeted therapies and has contributed to the development of gemcitabine, topotecan, docetaxel, mitoxantrone, and many other agents. He has authored more than 1,000 peer-reviewed publications.