Neil Pfister

Chief Medical Officer, Pfister Lab studying Mitochondrial Regulation of Cell Fate
GI Lead @UABradonc

[Corey Speers @cwspeers]

Incredible science and stellar presentations from @UABRadOnc at the Wolfsberg Meeting! 💥 From FLASH proton therapy to immunoradiosensitization and molecular targeting, our team is showcasing cutting-edge work that’s pushing the field forward. Proud to be part of this amazing group! #RadOnc #Wolfsberg2025 #TeamUAB

📸👇

[Corey Speers @cwspeers]

👏 Huge congratulations to Dr. Neil Pfister (@UABRadOnc) for his invited lecture at the 17th Wolfsberg Meeting on “Ionizing radiation-induced oxidative stress and PARP-dependent mitochondrial signaling”! 🌟

We are incredibly proud to have him on faculty at @UABHeersink, driving discovery at the interface of redox biology and radiation response.

#Wolfsberg2025 #RadOnc #TeamUAB #UABPride

[Neil Pfister @Neil_Pfister_MD]

Excited to present our work @ the 2nd annual Roche CGB summit in Basel

[STAT @statnews]

Genentech’s head of research and early development Aviv Regev explains what AI is bad at: thinking for a long time.

@genentech #STATBreakthrough

[Neil Pfister @Neil_Pfister_MD]

@tedradonc @rweichselbaum This is going to immediately open investigation into new targets in this is space (targets that likely will benefit in chemoIO population too). Exciting stuff

[Neil Pfister @Neil_Pfister_MD]

Incredible AI work showcased @ AWS Life Sciences Symposium in NYC today. Real advances in preclinical through clinical implementation. Significant venture presence too, looking for unicorns! @awscloud

[Neil Pfister @Neil_Pfister_MD]

This is a good initiative. Will be contributing in the AI clinical trials space (AI-enabled patient eligibility decisions using phase 2 to design better phase 3 trials).

[NIH Funding @NIHFunding]

Request for Information (RFI): Benchmarks for Artificial Intelligence in Cancer Research and Care https://t.co/lCFZxDDQQM

[Randall Kimple @KimpleRandall]

This has been a long-time coming. Want to acknowledge the great team i got to work with on this project where we looked at funding of radiation oncology research from the NIH.

https://t.co/Y6s7O0UONH

[Carlos Cardenas (@🏥) @CarlosMedPhys]

Shout out to @UdbhavRam for his 1st first-authored publication! Great collaboration between @McMasterU and @UABHeersink, we look forward to having you back in BHM this summer! @UABradonc @UABmedphys @UABMHIBI @PillayRubin

[Prof. Feynman @ProfFeynman]

Have no respect whatsoever for authority; forget who said it and instead look what he starts with, where he ends up, and ask yourself, "Is it reasonable?"

[Sean Langenfeld @SeanLangenfeld]

Important recent @AnnSurgOncol study from @WashUSurgery looking retrospectively at long-term outcomes of near-complete responses who undergo #WatchAndWait for rectal cancer.

Almost all patients received SCRT followed by consolidation chemo-->48% cCR, 28% near-complete (NCR), and 24% incomplete

The NCRs (n=61) had a median f/u of 27 months: 6.6% developed distant metastasis and 41% developed local regrowth.

The next part is important! Please keep reading!

64% of NCRs evolved into cCRs within 3-6 months. Of those, only 15% (6/39) developed local regrowth.

36% of NCRs continued to be NCRs (ulcers, nodularities, abnormal MRIs), and 86% of these (19/22) developed local regrowth.

21 patients underwent salvage surgery with 95%=R0. Unfortunately, 4/21 (19%) developed local recurrence after surgery.

What does this mean to me? Near-complete responses can evolve into cCRs in 3-6 months, and have excellent outcomes with watch-and-wait...they just needed a little more time.

However, if the irregularity remains after 3-6 months, I'm putting that rectum in a bucket.

https://t.co/Q1wpkVIfq3

[Neil Pfister @Neil_Pfister_MD]

Excellent work by @VitalayFomin @Numenos_AI using machine learning to understand checkpoint inhibitor resistance!

[Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer @jitcancer]

New #JITC article: Machine learning identifies clinical tumor mutation landscape pathways of resistance to checkpoint inhibitor therapy in NSCLC https://t.co/EHCv532Hlb
@VitalayFomin @mynameiselina

[Bassel El-Rayes, MD @BasselElRayesMD]

Great presentations and outstanding attendance. Thanks to @MallaMidhun for organizing and for our speakers @aparna1024 @kavikri @MehmetAkce2 @ONealCancerUAB #uab_cci_gioncsymposium_2025

[Neil Pfister @Neil_Pfister_MD]

@DrEmmaHolliday @ASTRO_org @KrishanJethwa Nice guideline. I advocate for T2 tumors >3 cm to have the same 54 Gy dose as 3cm+ LNs. It does not make oncologic sense to treat a primary to a lower dose than a same-size LN. These differences are too small to ever have cat1 evidence but follow first principles

[Neil Pfister @Neil_Pfister_MD]

@CharlesMBrenner They are completely ignoring the nobel prize-winning role of aquaporins! (sarcasm)

[Neil Pfister @Neil_Pfister_MD]

This is great work and just the start for using foundation models to understand gene expression networks!

[Dr. Anthony Letai @NCIDirector]

Big news: Scientists at @Columbia developed an AI model that predicts gene activity in cells with high accuracy – this could transform our understanding of cellular processes and diseases, making biology more predictive. https://t.co/wHjrvCQgD9

[Dr. Nina Niu Sanford @NiuSanford]

LEAP-012: TACE +/- lenvima/pembro for intermediate risk HCC.

-No difference in OS

-Grade 3+ AE 71% in combo arm, and 32% with TACE alone (!!)

IMO this is not an effective, cost-effective, or “well-tolerated” regimen.

[Neil Pfister @Neil_Pfister_MD]

Congrats!

[Ranjit Bindra,MD/PhD @ranjitbindra]

ICYMI: excited to end the year with a wonderful biotech exit 🙌🏽🙏🏽… one step closer to a new class of therapeutics for GBM+many other cancers!

@YaleCancer
@YaleRadOnc
@Yale_Ventures
@CT_Innovate
@sontagfdn
@brightedge
@NBTStweets
@HerzonLab

https://t.co/zjY50DAzmv

[Ravi B. Parikh @ravi_b_parikh]

One of the hardest things I do in #oncology clinic is translate results from a clinical trial to the #patient in front of me. In @NatureMedicine, we introduce TrialTranslator, a #machinelearning framework for individualized #cancer trial emulation.
https://t.co/25zjFPFD8y

[Neil Pfister @Neil_Pfister_MD]

@joshuapalmermd @OhioStateRadOnc @ASTRO_org @ESTRO_RT @NeuroOnc @EANOassociation @NeurosurgeryOSU Boron neutron capture therapy …