Francis P. Worden

Francis P. Worden, MD is Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Head and Neck Oncology Program at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center. He is a nationally recognized expert in advanced thyroid cancer, with a focus on anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC), differentiated thyroid cancer refractory to standard therapy, and the integration of targeted agents and immunotherapy into multimodal treatment paradigms. His clinical trials program at Michigan has contributed pivotal data to the thyroid cancer drug development pipeline. Dr. Worden has been a key investigator in trials evaluating BRAF/MEK inhibitor combinations in anaplastic thyroid cancer, contributing data to the approval of dabrafenib plus trametinib for BRAF V600E–mutant ATC. He has led studies on the biology of ATC transformation from well-differentiated thyroid cancers and pioneered multidisciplinary rapid enrollment approaches for ATC patients who require near-immediate systemic therapy. His work on pembrolizumab and spartalizumab in thyroid cancer subtypes has informed immunotherapy trials in this disease. Beyond thyroid cancer, Dr. Worden has contributed to clinical research in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas and salivary gland malignancies. He serves on NCCN thyroid cancer guideline committees and has authored over 120 peer-reviewed publications, with a focus on translating clinical trial findings into practice-changing treatment guidelines.