Jaffer A. Ajani

Jaffer A. Ajani, MD is Professor in the Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology and Director of the Esophageal Cancer Research Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is one of the world's most accomplished clinical investigators in esophageal and gastric cancer, having directed the development of some of the most widely used chemotherapy regimens in these diseases over four decades. Dr. Ajani was instrumental in the clinical development of the ECF (epirubicin, cisplatin, fluorouracil) regimen for gastric and esophageal cancer and subsequently contributed to comparative data between ECF-based regimens and the emerging FLOT backbone. He has led or co-led pivotal phase II and III trials evaluating multimodal treatment approaches in esophageal cancer, including neoadjuvant chemoradiation, definitive chemoradiation for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and anti-angiogenic combinations. Dr. Ajani also contributed to VEGFR2-targeted therapy development in gastric cancer and has performed extensive translational research into cancer stem cells, PD-L1 expression, and microRNA networks that govern drug resistance in esophageal cancer. He has published more than 700 papers with an h-index exceeding 100 and has received numerous lifetime achievement awards in GI oncology.