Kenneth Westover, M.D., Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Chief of Lung Radiation Oncology Service, Director of Clinical Innovation and Information Systems Associate Professor School Medical School Department Radiation Oncology | Biochemistry Graduate Programs Biological Chemistry, Cancer Biology You have reached the Academic Profile. For more information on the doctor and patient care, please visit the clinical profile. Biography Ken Westover, M.D., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and Chief of Lung Radiation Oncology Service at UT Southwestern Medical Center, as well as the co-director of the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center thoracic disease-oriented team. He also serves as the Director of Clinical Innovation and Information Systems in the Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Westover earned his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Brigham Young University. He received his Ph.D. and medical degree from Stanford University and completed an internship in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He followed this with his radiation oncology residency training at the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program. Dr. Westover is the principal investigator of the Westover Lab at UT Southwestern, which focuses on discovering targeted therapies for major drivers of cancer using protein chemistry, enzymology, structural biology, informatics, and cell biology; drug targets include RAS and kinase proteins. Work from the Westover Lab established paradigms for allele-specific approaches to RAS-targeted drugs. This includes targeting KRAS G12C with covalent inhibitors; inhibitors published by the Westover Lab directly inspired the development of FDA-approved RAS-G12C targeted drugs sotorasib and adagrasib. Additional work on RAS mutants that are activated by high nucleotide exchange rates, such as KRAS G13D and A146T, has inspired therapeutic concepts currently in development. Finally, foundational work on catalytically dead mutants, such as RAS codon 61 mutants, is inspiring an entirely new category of RAS-targeted therapies. As Director of Clinical Innovation and Information Systems, Dr. Westover has implemented numerous software tools to manage clinical operations. These include the RO-PAD exam room management system, patient wait time displays, a two-way provider messaging system, an automated chart rounds patient list system, and various clinical tools in the EPIC health care software medical record environment. He has also overseen the implementation of interfaces between radiation-focused electronic medical record systems and EPIC. In his role as Chief of Lung Radiation Oncology Service, Dr. Westover is focused on using adaptive radiation technologies to benefit lung cancer patients. Currently, his team is studying the benefits of delivering SAbR/SBRT fractions spaced by three weeks in high-risk patients (those with ILD or high-grade COPD). This approach may improve treatment tolerability, reduce the dose to normal tissue through tumor shrinkage, and enable the immune system to cooperate with radiation therapy. Additionally, his team is investigating the utility of using MRI-guided systems to accomplish these goals. Education Other Post Graduate Training Stanford University (2007) Medical School Stanford University School of Medicine (2007) Graduate School Stanford University (2007), Medical Scientist Training Program Internship Harvard/Brigham and Women's Hospital (2008), Internal Medicine Residency Harvard/Brigham and Women's Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital (2012), Radiation Oncology Research Interest Adaptive radiation therapy Cancer imaging Cancer therapeutics Kinase biology and inhibitor development RAS biology and inhibitor development Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) Structural biology Use of technology to improve cancer care Publications Beyond First-Generation KRAS Inhibitors: BBO-8520 Tests the Dual Mechanism Hypothesis Zhou Z, Westover KD Cancer discovery 2025 Mar 15 455-457 DCR2-targeted ultrasound nanobubbles loaded with verteporfin promote M2 macrophage polarization to overcome doxorubicin resistance in breast cancer Guo S, Zhang Y, Wang Y, Guo T, Zhu J, Chang L, Ling W, Westover KD, Zhou Z, Wei X Chemical Engineering Journal 2025 Feb 505 Oncogenic mutant KRAS inhibition through oxidation at cysteine 118 Kramer-Drauberg M, Petrini E, Mira A, Patrucco E, Scardaci R, Savinelli I, Wang H, Qiao K, Carrà G, Nokin MJ, Zhou Z, Westover KD, Santamaria D, Porporato PE, Ambrogio C Molecular oncology 2025 Feb 19 311-328 Concerning Safety and Efficacy of Concurrent and Consolidative Durvalumab With Thoracic Radiation Therapy in PDL1-Unselected Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Brief Report Zhang Y, Iyengar P, Montalvo S, Westover KD, Rashdan S, Donthireddy K, Kim J, Dowell JE, Drapkin B, Bhalla S, Chukwuma C, Nadeem U, Ahn C, Timmerman RD, Gerber DE International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics 2025 Jan 121 68-74 Lung Cancer Screening, Version 1.2025 Featured Updates to the NCCN Guidelines Wood DE, Kazerooni EA, Aberle DR, Argento C, Baines J, Boer B, Brown LM, Donington J, Eapen GA, Ferguson JS, Hou L, Klippenstein D, Kolansky AS, Kumar R, Leard LE, Leung AN, Mazzone P, Merritt RE, Norris K, Onaitis M, Pipavath S, Puri V, Raz D, Reddy C, Reid ME, Sandler KL, Sands J, Schabath MB, Sears CR, Studts JL, Tanoue L, Thacker AL, Tong BC, Travis WD, Wei B, Westover K, McCullough B, Ramakrishnan S JNCCN Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network 2025 Jan 23 Advances and Challenges in RAS Signaling Targeted Therapy in Leukemia Chen Y, Yin Z, Westover KD, Zhou Z, Shu L Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 2025 Jan 24 33-46 Concurrent and Consolidative Carboplatin Plus Nab-Paclitaxel or Paclitaxel in Locally Advanced NSCLC: A Multicenter, Randomized Clinical Trial Zhang Y, Laine AM, Iyengar P, Westover KD, Dowell JE, Hughes RS, Christie A, Mickel T, Attia A, Villaruz L, Chen Y, Spigel DR, Socinski MA, Timmerman RD, Gerber DE International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics 2025 SRC kinase drives multidrug resistance induced by KRAS-G12C inhibition Song X, Zhou Z, Elmezayen A, Wu R, Yu C, Gao B, Minna JD, Westover KD, Zeh HJ, Kroemer G, Heasley LE, Kang R, Tang D Science Advances 2024 Dec 10 Experimental variables determine the outcome of RAS-RAS interactions Zhou Z, Nguyen TL, Li X, Poujol C, Berlinska E, Michelina SV, Kapp JN, Plückthun A, Winslow MM, Ambrogio C, Shan Y, Santamaría D, Westover KD Journal of Biological Chemistry 2024 Nov 300 Adapt-On-Demand: A Novel Strategy for Personalized Adaptive Radiation Therapy for Locally Advanced Lung Cancer Li R, Zhuang T, Montalvo S, Wang K, Parsons D, Zhang Y, Iyengar P, Wang J, Godley A, Cai B, Lin MH, Westover K Practical Radiation Oncology 2024 Sep 14 e395-e406 Results 1-10 of 124 1 2 3 4 5 Next Last Books Featured Books Liver. In Human Radiation Injury Shrieve D, Loeffler J, et al (2010). Philadelphia, PA, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Radiation. In Pocket Neurology Westover MB, Choi E, Awad K (2010). Philadelphia, PA, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Honors & Awards American Cancer Society, Research Scholar (2018) V Scholar, V Foundation for Cancer Research (2014) Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Scholar (2012) American Board of Radiology B. Leonard Holman Research Pathway (2011-2012) Professional Associations/Affiliations American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (2013) American College of Radiology (ACR) (2007) American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) (2007) American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) (2008)
