Page Updated June 28, 2024

Keisuke Shirai, MD, MSc

Page Written by

Terri Heimann Oppenheimer

Page Edited by Patient Advocate

Dave Foster

Fact Checked

Dr. Keisuke Shirai is a Professor of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine and a medical oncologist at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center. He is a member of both the lung/thoracic cancer program team and the melanoma/skin cancer program team, and his areas of clinical focus are lung cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma, palliative care, and melanoma.[1]

Dartmouth Hitchcock’s Comprehensive Thoracic Oncology Program was recognized by U.S. News & World Report as high-performing in lung cancer surgery. The team’s approach provides patients with both state-of-the-art and personalized care, as well as access to the latest clinical trials and new therapies.[2]

Education and Career

Dr. Shirai earned his medical degree at Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan. He then completed a transitional internship at the United States Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan, and a residency in Internal Medicine at the Aso Iizuka Hospital in Fukuoka, Japan. He then completed a residency in Radiation Oncology at the Hokkaido Cancer Center of the National Sapporo Hospital in Hokkaido, Japan before relocating to the United States, where he completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He completed a fellowship in Internal Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina while also earning a Master of Science degree in Clinical Research.[1]

Dr. Shirai is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, and Hospice and Palliative Medicine and is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Research

Dr. Shirai is actively involved in multiple clinical trials investigating the use of immunotherapy drugs and targeted therapies for the treatment of thoracic malignancies, skin cancer, and melanoma. He has had several articles published in respected journals.

His recent work includes:[1]

Clinical Trials

21SHI300:a multicenter, open-label, phase 2 study of intratumoral CMP-001 in combination with an intravenous PD-1 blocking antibody in subjects with selected types of advanced or metastatic cancer

Location: Lebanon

·       22SHI478: A Phase 1 Open-Label study of Patritumab Deruxtecan (U3-1402) in combination with osimertinib in subjects with locally advanced or metastatic EGFR-mutated Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

Location: Lebanon

·       H19095 – A Phase III, Randomized, Placebo-controlled, Double-blind, Multi-center, International Study of Durvalumab With Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) for the Treatment of Patients with Stage I/II lymph-node negative Non-small Cell Lung Cance

Location: Lebanon

Publications

• Efficacy of metformin in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors (anti-PD-1/anti-CTLA-4) in metastatic malignant melanoma.

J Immunother Cancer. 2018 Jul 2;6(1):64. Afzal MZ, Mercado RR, Shirai K

• Metastatic uveal melanoma showing durable response to anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 combination therapy after experiencing progression on anti-PD-1 therapy alone.

J Immunother Cancer. 2018 Feb 12;6(1):13. Afzal MZ, Mabaera R, Shirai K

Terri Heimann Oppenheimer

Writer

Terri Oppenheimer has been writing about mesothelioma and asbestos topics for over ten years. She has a degree in English from the College of William and Mary. Terri’s experience as the head writer of our Mesothelioma.net news blog gives her a wealth of knowledge which she brings to all Mesothelioma.net articles she authors.

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Dave Foster

Page Editor

Dave has been a mesothelioma Patient Advocate for over 10 years. He consistently attends all major national and international mesothelioma meetings. In doing so, he is able to stay on top of the latest treatments, clinical trials, and research results. He also personally meets with mesothelioma patients and their families and connects them with the best medical specialists and legal representatives available.

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