Curtis Chong

Curtis R. Chong, MD, PhD, MPhil, FACP was born and raised in Honolulu where he attended public schools, sang in the Honolulu Boy Choir, and was the 1993 Honolulu Star Bulletin Newspaper Boy of the Year. He received his A.B. in biochemical sciences from Harvard University magna cum laude followed by an M.Phil. in Chemistry with Sir Alan Fersht at the University of Cambridge (Emmanuel College). He then received his MD and PhD in pharmacology from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Chong's PhD thesis research in drug discoverly led to the identification of the antiangiogenic effects of the antifungal drug itraconazole, which has been tested in phase II clinical trials on breast, lung, prostate, and skin cancers. Dr. Chong and colleagues were recognized for this work by the 2011 Bial Award Diploma of Distinction presented by the President of Portugal, and he led a team commercializing his thesis to win the 2007 Rice University Business Plan Competition. Dr. Chong has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, and Nature Medicine; his research on finding new uses for existing drugs has been profiled in Popular Science and The New York Times. Dr. Chong completed his categorical residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, his oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and is board-certified in internal medicine and medical oncology. He is currently an attending physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he focuses on the care of patients with lung cancer. Dr. Chong has received research support from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Young Investigator Award), Uniting Against Lung Cancer, and the American Cancer Society. An intrepid traveler and avid long-distance runner, Dr. Chong has visited 52 countries and completed marathons in 40 states, 16 countries, and 6 continents.