Hope S. Rugo, M.D.

Hope S. Rugo, M.D.
Medical Oncologist
Clinical Expertise
  • Breast Cancer
  • Safety and Symptom Management
Research Area
  • Breast Cancer
  • Drug Development
  • Safety and Symptom Management
Academic Appointments
  • Professor, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research
  • Division Chief, Breast Medical Oncology
  • Women's Cancers Program Director
Clinical Teams
Breast Cancer
Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research
Women's Cancers Program
Research Teams
Breast Cancer

Hope S. Rugo, M.D., is division chief of breast medical oncology and a professor of medical oncology and therapeutics research at City of Hope®. She also serves as director of the Women’s Cancers Program for City of Hope’s national network of cancer centers.

A world-renowned expert in breast cancer and clinical trial design and execution, Dr. Rugo oversees all women’s cancer research initiatives and clinical care at City of Hope. She is focused on expanding clinical trials, advancing translational research, and standardizing care to improve patient outcomes. She is deeply committed to improving access to innovative new therapies for breast cancer patients everywhere and takes a compassionate, collaborative approach in her work.

Dr. Rugo has been directly involved in numerous projects that have established new standards of care for breast cancer. She has served on the steering committees of multiple clinical trials that led to the approval of agents such as PARP inhibitors, CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K inhibitors, checkpoint inhibitors, and antibody-drug conjugates, among others. Additionally, Dr. Rugo has led several studies aimed at minimizing therapy-related toxicity, contributing to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of scalp cooling caps to prevent chemotherapy-induced hair loss and a steroid mouthwash to alleviate stomatitis caused by targeted therapies. She also served as co-chair of the Triple Negative Working Group of the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium, where she spearheaded groundbreaking multicenter clinical trials in collaboration with researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and clinical providers.

As a physician-scholar with more than 500 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Rugo served on the editorial board of the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Education Committee, which included co-chairing the creation of new guidelines for the hormonal treatment of metastatic breast cancer. She is an Associated editor for the ASCO meeting annual educational manuscripts, committed to educating patients and medical provider on the latest in breast cancer treatment. Dr. Rugo has presented on her work at conferences around the world. Along the way, she's been recognized with numerous awards, including the Bank of America Gianini Foundation Award and the European Society for Medical Oncology's 2024 Breast Cancer Award.

After earning her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Rugo completed a residency in internal medicine and primary care and a fellowship in hematology and oncology, both at the University of California, San Francisco.

Location

Education & Experience

Degrees

  • 1984, Doctor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • 1979, Bachelor of Science, Chemistry, Tufts University, Boston MA

Residency

  • 1987, Internal Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California

Fellowship

  • 1990, Hematology and Oncology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California

Professional Experience

  • 2025-present, Professor, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research, City of Hope, Duarte, California
  • 2025-present, Division Chief of Breast Medical Oncology, City of Hope, Duarte, California
  • 2025-present, Women's Cancers Program Director, City of Hope, Duarte, California
  • 2003-2025, Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology; Winterhof Family Distinguished Professor of Breast Cancer; Director, Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education, & Medical Director, Cancer Infusion Services, University of California, San Francisco, California
  • 1997-2003, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of California, San Francisco, California
  • 1992-1997, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of California, San Francisco, California
  • 1990-1992, Clinical Instructor of Medicine, Cancer Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, California

Publications

  • Janni W, Friedl TWP, Yab TC, Bidard FC, Cristofanilli M, Hayes DF, Ignatiadis M, Regan MM, Alix-Panabieres C, Barlow WE, Caldas C, Carey LA, Dirix L, Fehm T, Garcia-Saenz JA, Gazzaniga P, Generali D, Gerratana L, Gisbert-Criado R, Jacot W, Jiang Z, Joosse SA, Lianidou E, López López R, Magbanua MJM, Manso L, Mavroudis D, Müller V, Munzone E, Pantel K, Pierga JY, Rack B, Riethdorf S, Rugo HS, Sideras K, Sleijfer S, Smerage J, Stebbing J, Terstappen LWMM, Vidal-Martínez J, Wallwiener M, Giridhar KV, Liu MC. Clinical validity of repeated circulating tumor cell enumeration as an early treatment monitoring tool for metastatic breast cancer in the PREDICT global pooled analysis. Cancer Res. 2025 Mar 18.doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-24-3108.
  • Park YH, Bianchini G, Cortés J, Licata L, Vidal M, Iihara H, Roeland EJ, Jordan K, Scotté F, Schwartzberg L, Navari RM, Aapro M, Rugo HS. Nausea and vomiting in an evolving anticancer treatment landscape: long-delayed and antiemetogenic antibody-drug conjugates. Future Oncol. 2025 Mar 19:1-12. doi: 10.1080/14796694.2025.2479417.
  • Gluz O, Xu B, Nanda R, Dasgupta A, Kaushik A, Verret W, Sharma A, Singh B, Rugo HS. Efficacy of sacituzumab govitecan versus treatment of physician's choice in previously treated HR+ and HER2- mBC: a meta-analysis of TROPiCS-02 and EVER-132-002 trials. Ther Adv Med Oncol. 2025 Mar 14;17:17588359251320285. doi: 10.1177/17588359251320285. eCollection 2025.
  • Antonarelli G, Pérez-García JM, Gion M, Rugo H, Schmid P, Bardia A, Hurvitz S, Harbeck N, Tolaney SM, Curigliano G, Llombart-Cussac A, Cortés J. Redefining Clinical Trial Strategic Design to Support Drug Approval in Medical Oncology. Ann Oncol. 2025 Mar 12:S0923-7534(25)00111-5. doi: 10.1016/j.annonc.2025.03.005.
  • Harbeck N, Dieras V, Gelmon KA, Finn RS, Martin M, Neven P, Kim S, Ma J, Gauthier E, Broughton E, Doan J, Rugo HS. Effect of palbociclib plus letrozole on patient-reported health-related quality of life: extended follow-up of the PALOMA-2 trial. ESMO Open. 2025 Mar 18;10(4):104497. doi: 10.1016/j.esmoop.2025.104497.
  • Fasching PA, Slamon D, Nowecki Z, Kukielka-Budny B, Stroyakovskiy D, Yardley DA, Huang CS, Chan A, Chia S, Martín M, Rugo HS, Loi S, Hurvitz S, Untch M, Afenjar K, Fresco R, Danyliv A, Ferrusi I, Li Z, Hortobagyi G. Health-related quality of life in patients with HR+/HER2- early breast cancer treated with ribociclib plus a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor: results from the NATALEE trial. Clin Cancer Res. 2025 Feb 28. Doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-24-1724
  • Denkert C, Rachakonda S, Karn T, Weber K, Martin M, Marmé F, Untch M, Bonnefoi H, Kim SB, Seiler S, Bear HD, Witkiewicz AK, Im SA, DeMichele A, Pehl A, Van't Veer L, McCarthy N, Stiewe T, Jank P, Gelmon KA, García-Sáenz JA, Westhoff CC, Kelly CM, Reimer T, Felder B, Olivé MM, Knudsen ES, Turner N, Rojo F, Schmitt WD, Fasching PA, Teply-Szymanski J, Zhang Z, Toi M, Rugo HS, Gnant M, Makris A, Holtschmidt J, Nekljudova V, Loibl S. Dynamics of molecular heterogeneity in high-risk luminal breast cancer – from instrinsic to adaptive subtypes. Cancer Cell. 2025 Feb 10;43(2):232-247.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2025.01.002.
  • Moore HN, Goncalves MD, Johnston AM, Mayer EL, Rugo HS, Gradishar WJ, Zylla DM, Bergenstal RM. Effective Strategies for the Prevention and Mitigation of Phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase Inhibitor-Associated Hyperglycemia: Optimizing Patient Care. Clin Breast Cancer. 2025 Jan;25(1):1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.clbc.2024.09.017. Epub 2024 Sep 28.
  • DeMichele A, Dueck AC, Hlauschek D, Martin M, Burstein H, Pfeiler G, Zdenkowski N, Wolff A, Bellet-Ezquerra M, Winer E, Balic M, Miller K, Colleoni M, Lake D, Rubovsky G, Cameron D, Balko J, Singer CF, Nowecki Z, Iwata H, Wolmark N, Parraga KA, Rugo H, Steger GG, Traina T, Werutsky G, Czajkowska D, Metzger O, El-Abed S, Theall KP, Lu RD, O'Brien P, Fesl C, Mayer E, Gnant M. Outcomes in stage IIA versus stage IIB/III in the PALLAS trial [ABCSG-42/AFT-05/PrE0109/BIG-14-13]). Breast Cancer Res. 2025 Jan 23;27(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s13058-024-01941-3.
  • Lai-Kwon J, Rutherford C, Best S, Rugo HS, Ruhlman CH, Jefford M. Developing alert thresholds and self-management advice for people receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors: a multinational association for supportive care in cancer modified Delphi surgery. Support Care Cancer. 2025 Jan 7;33(2):76. doi: 10.1007/s00520-024-09110-0.
  • Rugo HS, Layman RM, Lynce F, Liu X, Li B, McRoy L, Cohen AB, Estevez M, Curigliano G, Brufsky A. Comparative overall survival of CDK4/6 inhibitors plus an aromatase inhibitor in HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer in the US real-world setting. ESMO Open. 2025 Jan 3;10(1):104103. doi: 10.1016/j.esmoop.2024.104103. Online ahead of print. PMID: 39754979
  • Trapani D, Jin Q, Miller KD, Rugo HS, Reeder-Hayes KE, Traina T, Abdou Y, Falkson C, Abramson V, Ligibel J, Chen W, Come S, Nohria A, Ryabin N, Tayob N, Tolaney SM, Burstein HJ, Mayer EL. Optimizing Postneoadjuvant Treatment of Residual Breast Cancer With Adjuvant Bevacizumab Alone, With Metronomic or Standard-Dose Chemotherapy: A Combined Analysis of DFCI 05-055 and DFCI 09-134/TBCRC 012/ABCDE Clinical Trials. Clin Breast Cancer. 2024 Dec 31:S1526-8209(24)00371-9. doi: 10.1016/j.clbc.2024.12.018.
  • Rugo HS, Lerebours F, Ciruelos E, Drullinsky P, Ruiz-Borrego M, Neven P, Park YH, Prat A, Bachelot T, Juric D, Turner N, Sophos N, Zarate JP, Arce C, Shen YM, Turner S, Kanakamedala H, Hsu WC, Chia S. Alpelisib plus fulvestrant in PIK3CA-mutated, hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer after a CDK4/6 inhibitor (BYLieve): one cohort of a phase 2, multicentre, open-label, non-comparative study. Lancet Oncol. 2024 Dec;25(12):e629-e638. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(24)00673-9.
  • Rugo HS, Campbell M, Yau C, Jo Chien A, Wallace AM, Isaacs C, Boughey JC, Han HS, Buxton M, Clennell JL, Asare SM, Steeg K, Wilson A, Singhrao R, Matthews JB, Perlmutter J, Fraser Symmans W, Hylton NM, DeMichele AM, Yee D, Van't Veer LJ, Berry DA, Esserman LJ. Pexidartinib and standard neoadjuvant therapy in the adaptively randomized I-SPY2 trial for early breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2024 Dec 3. doi: 10.1007/s10549-024-07555-9.
  • Huppert LA, Wolf D, Yau C, Brown-Swigart L, Hirst GL, Isaacs C, Pusztai L, Pohlmann PR, DeMichele A, Shatsky R, Yee D, Thomas A, Nanda R, Perlmutter J, Heditsian D, Hylton N, Symmans F, Veer LJV', Esserman L, Rugo HS. Pathologic complete response (pCR) rates for patients with HR+/HER2- high-risk, early-stage breast cancer (EBC) by clinical and molecular features in the phase II I-SPY2 clinical trial. Ann Oncol. 2024 Oct 28:S0923-7534(24)04070-5. doi: 10.1016/j.annonc.2024.10.018.

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