Charles Kunos, MD, PhD

Physician

Charles Kunos, MD, PhD, is a Medical Officer in the Investigational Drug Branch (IDB) of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP), Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis (DCTD) at the NCI and oversees adult and pediatric investigational therapeutics alone or in combination with radiation therapy. He received his medical and doctorate degrees from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. He undertook radiation oncology training at the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at University Hospitals of Cleveland. He then became the Clinical Director of the Gynecologic, Pediatric, and Musculoskeletal radiation therapy at University Hospitals of Cleveland. During his tenure, he developed skills in conventional radiotherapy, gynecologic brachytherapy, helical tomotherapy, gamma knife radiosurgery, and cyberknife stereotactic body radiosurgery. During this same time, he ran a radiobiology laboratory focused on the science of ribonucleotide reductase and its pharmacological inhibition by triapine using uterine cervix cancer preclinical models. He was the principal investigator for the NCI-sponsored phase I and II clinical trials of triapine radiochemotherapy for women with advanced stage uterine cervix cancer, which demonstrated very high overall response rates and progression-free survival. He was formerly the NCI Gynecologic Oncology Group’s liaison for Radiation Medicine, serving on multiple committees and task forces as well as serving as a Phase I co-chair of the Developmental Therapeutics Committee between 2012 and 2015.

Dr. Kunos joined NCI in 2016. He provides scientific review, develops and implements clinical trials, and monitors adverse events for a diverse drug portfolio involving experimental therapeutic agents that manipulate DNA damage responses by themselves or in combination with radiation therapy. He led NCI’s team that was granted Food & Drug Administration Orphan Drug Designation and Fast Track Designation for triapine in combination with cisplatin-radiation therapy for treatment of women with advanced stage uterine cervix cancer. He received a 2018 NCI Director’s Award for leading a team that improved uterine cervix cancer patient clinical trial access within Puerto Rico’s NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). He currently directs CTEP’s IDB Fellow and Early Career Investigator Externship Program and its educational efforts to improve written communication in CTEP’s Letters of Intent (LOIs). He also interacts with other NCI branches/programs as well as with other Federal Agencies to leverage resources in a first-ever CTEP clinical development program for radiopharmaceuticals.

Contact Information:
National Cancer Institute
9609 Medical Center Dr., MSC 9739
For USPS: Bethesda, MD 20892-9739
For Express and Courier: Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: 240-276-6939
Fax: 240-276-7894
E-mail: charles.kunos@nih.gov