Victoria Meucci Villaflor, M.D.

I feel there is so much we do not know about the body's immune system and enjoy exploring methods of improving our ability to harvest the immune system to target cancer and ultimately improve clinical outcomes.

Victoria M. Villaflor, M.D. specializes in the cancers of the "upper aerodigestive" system: head and neck cancer and thoracic cancers, including lung cancer and other malignancies. She's been cited multiple times by Castle Connolly as a "Top Doctor" and also won awards for her research and humanitarian work.

Dr. Villaflor was a researcher at a major pharmaceutical company before entering Rush Medical College in Chicago, where she earned her M.D. and completed her internship, residency and a fellowship in hematology/oncology. She joins City of Hope following a distinguished career as a medical oncologist at Rush, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.

Motivated to enter the medical field following the loss of loved ones to cancer, Dr. Villaflor is passionate about the promise of targeted therapy and immunotherapy. She's excited to be part of the City of Hope team, saying it will "afford me the opportunity to give excellent care for patients...as well as the ability to do innovative research in a collaborative environment."

I am a board-certified medical oncologist who specializes in upper aerodigestive tract malignancies, including head and neck, lung and esophageal cancers.  My primary interests are focused on improving patient survival and improving outcomes.  I have a background evaluating molecular targets in NSCLC.  Our team was the first to publish on the use of circulating tumor DNA in lung cancer patients and publish on the implications of EGFR mutations in early stage NSCLC.  I was the institutional principal investigator for the SWOG S1507, A Phase II Trial of Trametinib with Docetaxel in Patients with KRAS mutation positive NSSCLC and Progressive disease following one or two prior systemic therapies.  During this study, I was able to observe the lack of benefit of many KRAS interventions.  Ultimately, it is prudent to better optimize these therapies for improved outcomes for lung cancer patients from both a response and quality of life perspective.  Additionally, I was the institutional principal investigator for the Multi-part, Phase 1, Multi-center, Open-label Study of DKN-01 as a Monotherapy or in Combination with Paclitaxel or Pembrolizumab in Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Esophagogastric Malignancies.  Translational non-genomic studies of overcoming resistance from Dr Sunil Sharma’s lab demonstrated synergy of WNT inhibition with Sotorasib in KRAS G12C models.  I am very excited about the use of WNT inhibition to improve outcomes for this very challenging group of patients.

I have experience in translational science and working in multidisciplinary teams.  I plan to utilize the data from our proposed studies to guide the development for future clinical trials.  I am excited and determined at the prospect of translating laboratory and multidisciplinary work into clinical trials.  I feel our team approach will be instrumental in crafting appropriate treatment plans and monitoring markers of resistance and response.  These studies are imperative to understanding the effects on treatment adverse effects and tumor response.  Additionally, as we learn more about production of neoantigen vaccines and tumor interactions, I feel we will better be able to better develop novel strategies which may help improve outcomes and cure rates for patients with head and neck malignancies.

• Choe KS, Haraf DJ, Solanki A, Cohen EE, Seiwert TY, Stenson KM, Blair EA, Portugal L, Villaflor VM, Witt ME, Vokes EE, Salama JK.  Prior Chemoradiotherapy Adversely Impacts Outcomes of Recurrent and Second Primary Head and Neck Cancer Treated with Concurrent Chemotherapy and Reirradiation.  Cancer.  2011 Jun 13 (Epub).  PMID:  21671479 
• Pederson AW, Salama JK, Haraf DJ, Witt ME, Stenson KM, Portugal L, Seiwert T, Villaflor VM, Cohen EE, Vokes EE, Blair EA. Adjuvant chemoradiotherapy for locoregionally advanced and high-risk salivary gland malignancies. Head Neck Oncol. 2011 Jul 26;3:31. PMID: 21791072. 
• Villaflor VM, Haraf D, Salama JK, Kocherginsky M, Langerman A, Gomez-Abuin G, Beniwal P, Blair EA, Stenson KM, Portugal L, Seiwert T, Williams RD, Dekker AJ, Witt ME, Vokes EE, Cohen EE.  Phase II Trial of Pemetrexed-Based Induction Chemotherapy Followed by Concomitant Chemoradiotherapy in Previously Irradiated Patients with Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck.  Ann Oncol 2011 Nov;22(11):2501-7.  PMID:  21385883 
• Stenson KM, Maccracken E, Kunnavakkam RW, Cohen EE, Portugal LD, Villaflor V, Seiwert T, Blair E, Haraf DJ, Salama JK, Vokes EE. Chemoradiation for Patients with Large-Volume Laryngeal Cancers.  Head Neck. 2011 Nov 3 (Epub). PMID:  22052816. 
• Salama JK, Hasselle MD, Chmura SJ, Malik R, Nehta N, Yenice KM, Villaflor VM, Stadler WM, Hoffman PC, Cohen EE, Connell PP, Haraf DJ, Vokes EE, Hellman R, Weichselbaum RR.  Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Multisite Extracranial Oligometastases: Final Report of a Dose Escalation Trial in Patients with 1 To 5 Sites of Metastatic Disease.  Cancer. 2011 Oct 21 (Epub).  PMID:  22020702 
• Seiwert TY, Darga T, Haraf D, Blair EA, Stenson K, Cohen EE, Salama JK, Villaflor V, Witt ME, Lingen MW, Weichselbaum RR, Vokes EE.  A Phase I Dose Escalation Study of Ad GV.EGR.TNF.11D (TNFeradeTMBiologic) with Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy in Patients with Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer Undergoing Reirradiation.  Ann Oncol 2013; 24(3):769-776.  PMID 23104721. 
• Cohen EE, Karrison TG, Kocherginsky M, Mueller J, Egan R, Huang CH, Brockstein BE, Agulnik MB, Mittal BB, Yunus F, Samant S, Raez LE, Mehra R, Kumar P, Ondrey F, Marchand P, Braegas B, Seiwert TY, Villaflor VM, Haraf DJ, Vokes EE.  Phase III Randomized Trial of Induction Chemotherapy in Patients with N2 or N3 Locally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer.  J Clin Oncol.  2014;32(25):2735-43.  PMID:  25049329 
• Brand TM, Lida M, Stein AP, Corrigan KL, Braverman CM, Coan JP, Pearson HE, Bahrar H, Fowler TL, Bednarz BP, Saha S, Yang D, Gill PS, Lingen MW, Saloura B, Villaflor VM, Salgia R, Kimple RH, Wheeler DL.  AXL Is A Logical Molecular Target in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.  Clin Cancer Res.  2015;21(11):2601-12.  PMID: 25767293 
• Villaflor VM, Melotek JM, Karrison TG, Brisson RJ et al.  Response-Adapted Volume De-Escalation (RAVD) In Locally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer.  Ann Oncol. 2016;27(5):908-913.  PMID: 26884588. 
• Seiwert TY, Melotek JM, Blair EA, Stenson KM, Salama JK, Witt ME, Brisson RJ, Chawla A, Dekker A, Lingen MW, Kocherginsky M, Villaflor VM, Cohen EE, Haraf DJ, Vokes EE.  Final Results of a Randomized Phase 2 Trial Investigating the Addition of Cetuximab To Induction Chemotherapy and Accelerated or Hyperfractionated Chemoradiation For Locoregionally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer.  Int. J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys.  2016.  96(1):21-29.  PMID: 27511844.

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