James Brugarolas, M.D., Ph.D.
Titles and Appointments
Director of the Kidney Cancer Program
Professor
- Endowed Title
- The Sherry Wigley Crow Cancer Research Endowed Chair in Honor of Robert Lewis Kirby, M.D.
- School
- Medical School
- Department
- Internal Medicine
- Graduate Programs
- Cancer Biology, Genetics, Development and Disease
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James Brugarolas, M.D., Ph.D., is a tenured Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) and a member of the Division of Hematology and Oncology. He holds the Sherry Wigley Crow Cancer Research Endowed Chair in Honor of Robert Lewis Kirby, M.D.
A practicing physician-scientist specializing in kidney cancer, Dr. Brugarolas is the founding director of the Kidney Cancer Program (KCP) at the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center. Recognized for its clinical excellence with a Leaders in Clinical Excellence Program Development Award, for its innovation with a finalist Healthcare Innovation Award, and for its research with one of two National Cancer Institute (NCI) Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) Awards for kidney cancer in the US, the KCP has become a trailblazing program despite its short history. The program is one of a few across the world to have completed the journey from gene discovery to the development of a drug, a first-in-class HIF2 inhibitor, now approved by the FDA.
Dr. Brugarolas joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2006. Discoveries from the Brugarolas Laboratory have led to the identification of kidney cancer-causing genes, established the foundation for the first molecularly-based classification of the most common type of kidney cancer, enabled mouse models reproducing the human disease, established HIF2 as a core dependency, identified drivers of tumor grade, and provided a biological explanation for elusive prognostic factors.
Dr. Brugarolas earned his medical degree at Spain’s Universidad de Navarra before earning a doctoral degree in biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he trained with Tyler Jacks, Ph.D. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center and an oncology fellowship at a combined program of Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), where he trained in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate, William G. Kaelin, MD.
An active national and international speaker, Dr. Brugarolas serves on the NCI Renal Cancer Task Force and is the chair of the scientific advisory board of the Academy of Kidney Cancer Investigators. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
He has authored groundbreaking research and published in journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Cancer Cell, Nature Genetics, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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