Adam Bass, M.D.

Adam Bass is an associate member of the Broad Institute’s Cancer Program. He is also a physician/scientist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He also co-leads the Specialized Program of Research Excellence for gastrointestinal (GI) cancer across the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.

Bass researches the genomic underpinnings of GI cancers – particularly stomach and esophageal carcinomas. The overarching goal of his lab is to leverage their expertise in cancer genomics, experimental/functional biology, and clinical medicine in the search for the underlying mechanisms and therapeutic vulnerabilities of these cancers.

Working closely with researchers from the Broad, Bass co-chaired a The Cancer Genome Atlas project to characterize the genomes of gastric and esophageal cancer. Bass and his team are working to define the genes and genetic alterations most likely involved in GI tumors, and then pursue those genes of interest in follow-up studies to mechanistically define their role in cancer development. Their aim is to identify potential targets for cancer therapeutics, and ultimately to translate those findings into new therapeutic approaches to test in clinical trials. He is also co-leading efforts within the Broad Cancer Program to utilize functional genomic tools to define and validate new treatment targets across gastrointestinal cancers.

Bass received his B.A. from Amherst College and his M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine. He conducted his clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Center, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Broad institute member and director of cancer genomics Matthew Meyerson. He has received awards from the Doris Duke Foundation and American Cancer Society, and was recently inducted into the American Society for Clinical Investigation.