Kenneth Westover, M.D., Ph.D. 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 CheckMate Check-In: Playbook for a Cancelled Surgery Badiyan SN, Westover K International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics 2024 Mar 118 588-589 Another KRAS variant trapped Westover K Nature chemical biology 2024 Beyond conventional bounds: Surpassing system limits for stereotactic ablative (SAbR) lung radiotherapy using CBCT-based adaptive planning system Gonzalez Y, Visak J, Overman L, Liao CY, Yen A, Zhuang T, Cai B, Godley A, Zhang Y, Timmerman R, Iyengar P, Westover K, Parsons D, Lin MH Journal of applied clinical medical physics 2024 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 DD, Zhang Y, Iyengar P, Wang J, Godley A, Cai B, Lin M, Westover K Practical Radiation Oncology 2024 GLUT3 promotes macrophage signaling and function via RAS-mediated endocytosis in atopic dermatitis and wound healing Yu DM, Zhao J, Lee EE, Kim D, Mahapatra R, Rose EK, Zhou Z, Hosler C, El Kurdi A, Choe JY, Abel ED, Hoxhaj G, Westover KD, Cho RJ, Cheng JB, Wang RC Journal of Clinical Investigation 2023 Nov 133 LIMS-Kinase provides sensitive and generalizable label-free in vitro measurement of kinase activity using mass spectrometry Meyer C, McCoy M, Li L, Posner B, Westover KD Cell Reports Physical Science 2023 Oct 4 Dynamic ultrasound molecular-targeted imaging of senescence in evaluation of lapatinib resistance in HER2-positive breast cancer Chen X, Li Y, Zhou Z, Zhang Y, Chang L, Gao X, Li Q, Luo H, Westover KD, Zhu J, Wei X Cancer Medicine 2023 Oct 12 19904-19920 Development of a Covalent Inhibitor of c-Jun N-Terminal Protein Kinase (JNK) 2/3 with Selectivity over JNK1 Lu W, Liu Y, Gao Y, Geng Q, Gurbani D, Li L, Ficarro SB, Meyer CJ, Sinha D, You I, Tse J, He Z, Ji W, Che J, Kim AY, Yu T, Wen K, Anderson KC, Marto JA, Westover KD, Zhang T, Gray NS Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2023 Mar 66 3356-3371 ADAP1 promotes latent HIV-1 reactivation by selectively tuning KRAS–ERK–AP-1 T cell signaling-transcriptional axis Ramirez NG, Lee J, Zheng Y, Li L, Dennis B, Chen D, Challa A, Planelles V, Westover KD, Alto NM, D’Orso I Nature communications 2022 Dec 13 Therapeutic Targeting the Allosteric Cysteinome of RAS and Kinase Families Li L, Meyer C, Zhou ZW, Elmezayen A, Westover K Journal of Molecular Biology 2022 Sep 434 Results 1-10 of 114 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)
