Christian Rolfo, MD, PhD, MBA
Dr. Christian Rolfo is a noted medical oncologist and specialist in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer with the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. He holds the positions of Professor of Medicine and Associate Director of Clinical Research in the Center of Thoracic Oncology at The Tisch Cancer Institute.[1]
Dr. Rolfo’s care is centered around the use of liquid biopsies to accurately identify patients’s unique molecular biology and to apply new immunotherapy drugs and other targeted therapies in treating patients with thoracic malignancies.[1]
Education and Career
Dr. Rolfo earned his medical degree at the University of Cordoba School of Medicine in Argentina, his Ph.D. and Doctor Europaeus in Clinical Oncology and Experimental Research at the European University of Palermo, Italy, and an MBA in Hospital and Health Services Management and Organization at Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. He completed residency training in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute in Milan (University of Milan, Italy).[1]
In the years since completing his medical education and training, he has served as a medical oncologist at the IRCCS Instituto Nazionale dei Tumori Foundation in Milan Italy, and as a Professor in the Master’s degree program at the University of the Balearic Islands. He has conducted investigational cancer therapeutics research in the Phase I Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and as a member of the Drug Approval & First in Human Commission at the Ministry of Health in Belgium during his time as Phase I Director at Antwerp University. He was the Director of Thoracic Medical Oncology and Director of Early Clinical Trials at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center before accepting his role at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Tisch Cancer Institute.[1]
Professional Memberships and Activities
Dr. Rolfo participates on committees and data safety monitoring boards (DSMB) or holds executive leadership roles for several companies in the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries and is an active member of several professional associations, including:[1]
International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC)
ESO – European School of Oncology
ESMO – European Society of Medical Oncology
Elsevier
He is also the founder of ISLB, the International Society of Liquid Biopsy.
Research
Dr. Rolfo’s research is concentrated on the study of liquid biopsy biomarkers, particularly in CTCs, ctDNA, and extracellular vesicles in lung cancer. He participated as principal investigator or global principal investigator in several early clinical trials of Erlotinib and Entrectinib, including first-in-human studies and first-dosing studies, and made significant contributions to their development.
Dr. Rolfo’s focus on molecular oncology, targeted therapies, and immunotherapy has led to the identification of ALK translocation in exosomes in non-small cell lung cancer patients and revealed labeled EVs uptake by living lung cancer cells. He is currently working on the identification of new biomarkers involved in immunotherapy and TKI drug resistance.
Dr. Rolfo has authored more than 250 scientific articles, has made several contributions to book chapters, and has served as a book editor. His work has been published in highly respected professional journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Nature Clinical Reviews in Oncology, Journal of Thoracic Oncology, Nature Nanotechnology, Clinical Cancer Research, Annals of Oncology, and Lung Cancer. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Critical Review in Oncology Hematology and an Associate Editor at ESMO Open.[1]
His most recent publications include:[2]
LIBRETTO-431: Is it time to reconsider randomized phase 3 trials for uncommon oncogenic drivers in non-small-cell lung cancer? Russo, A., Muscolino, P., Rolfo, C.> ;Med. 2024 Feb 9
CXCR2 antagonist navarixin in combination with pembrolizumab in select advanced solid tumors: a phase 2 randomized trial. Armstrong, A., Geva, R., Chung, H., Lemech, C., Miller, W., Hansen, A., Lee, J., Tsai, F., Solomon, B., Kim, T., Rolfo, C., Giranda, V., Ren, Y., Liu, F., Kandala, B.,…>;Investigational New Drugs. 2024 Feb 7
Clinical utility of Next Generation Sequencing of plasma cell-free DNA for the molecular profiling of patients with NSCLC at diagnosis and disease progression. Del Re, M., Luculli, G., Petrini, I., Sbrana, A., Scotti, V., Perez, D., Livi, L., Crucitta, S., Iannopollo, M., Mazzoni, F., Ruglioni, M., Tibaldi, C., Olmetto, E., S…> ;Translational Oncology. 2024 Mar 1
