Robert Gatenby

Robert Gatenby is the founder of adaptive therapy who proposed that maintaining a population of treatment-sensitive cancer cells through intermittent dosing can competitively suppress resistant clones, fundamentally challenging the maximum tolerated dose paradigm that inadvertently selects for resistance. His theoretical framework at Moffitt Cancer Center, validated in clinical trials for metastatic prostate cancer, demonstrated that evolutionary principles can be applied to treatment scheduling to extend time to progression and improve patient quality of life. His work has launched the field of evolutionary oncology and inspired a new generation of evolution-informed clinical trial designs.