Lewis Cantley

Lewis Cantley at Weill Cornell Medicine discovered the PI3K enzyme and established the PI3K pathway as a central oncogenic signaling network, foundational work that enabled the development of PI3K inhibitors including alpelisib for PIK3CA-mutant breast cancer. His research on PI3K isoforms, substrate specificity, and pathway regulation has contributed to understanding how to optimally inhibit the pathway therapeutically. He has contributed to rational combination strategies pairing PI3K inhibition with other targeted therapies and immunotherapy. His discovery of PI3K and the pathway's central role in cancer metabolism represents one of the most impactful contributions to cancer biology.