Sara M. Tolaney

Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH is Chief of the Division of Breast Oncology and Associate Director of the Susan F. Smith Center for Women's Cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is one of the most influential breast oncologists of her generation, recognized for leading pivotal trials that have transformed the treatment of both HER2-positive and HER2-low breast cancer. Dr. Tolaney was a principal investigator of the KATHERINE trial, which established ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) as standard adjuvant therapy for patients with residual invasive HER2+ breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy—a result that improved invasive disease-free survival by 50% and reshaped the adjuvant landscape. She has been a central investigator in the DESTINY-Breast program evaluating trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd), including DESTINY-Breast01 and DESTINY-Breast06, the latter of which demonstrated striking activity of T-DXd in HER2-low breast cancer (IHC 1+ or IHC 2+/ISH-), creating an entirely new treatment-relevant category that has redefined how oncologists classify HER2 status in breast cancer. Dr. Tolaney has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles and is a sought-after expert at ASCO, ESMO, and SABCS. She serves on the ASCO Breast Cancer Guideline Panel and is on the editorial board of JCO and JAMA Oncology.