Leora Horn

Leora Horn, MD, MSc, is Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Thoracic Oncology Program at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. She is a leading expert in the intersection of molecular oncology, KRAS-mutant NSCLC biology, and immunotherapy resistance mechanisms. Horn was a co-investigator in the CodeBreak 200 phase III trial evaluating sotorasib versus docetaxel in previously treated KRAS G12C-mutant NSCLC, which demonstrated improved PFS with sotorasib and led to full FDA approval, establishing KRAS G12C as one of the most impactful actionable oncogenomic targets in lung cancer after two decades of research. Her translational investigations have deeply explored why KRAS G12C-mutant NSCLC with co-occurring STK11 or KEAP1 mutations shows strikingly poor responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors despite co-mutation burden, identifying these co-alterations as major determinants of the immunologically cold tumor microenvironment in tobacco-associated lung cancer. Horn has led or co-led multiple clinical trials evaluating KRAS G12C inhibitor combinations with immunotherapy, SHP2 inhibitors, and MEK inhibitors in NSCLC, and has published extensively on optimal treatment sequencing strategies for KRAS-mutant tumors. She is an active NCCN guideline panel member and frequent ASCO and ESMO faculty presenter in the biomarker and targeted therapy arena.