Konstantin H. Dragnev, MD
Dr. Konstantin H. Dragnev is a medical oncologist and renowned researcher at the Dartmouth Cancer Center. His principal clinical focus is on improving outcomes for patients diagnosed with non-small cell and small cell lung cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma, and esophageal cancer using molecularly targeted therapies. Dr. Dragnev is also a professor of medicine at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and the cancer center’s associate director for clinical research. He has also served as interim deputy director of the Dartmouth Cancer Center and has been medical director of its infusion suite since 2011.[1]
Dr. Dragnev works to bring the results of his clinical trials directly to patient care. Speaking of the importance of his research, Duane Compton, Ph.D. and dean of the Geisel School of Medicine, said, “Dr. Dragnev’s leadership has been critical to the success of our cancer clinical trials program. He exemplifies the very best in how we work to translate discoveries in the basic sciences into more effective and less toxic treatments for a disease that knows no boundaries in who it affects.”[2]
Education and Career
Dr. Dragnev is from Bulgaria, and he earned his medical degree at the Higher Institute of Medicine there. He then came to the United States as a Fogarty Fellow at the National Institutes of Health, completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and Hematology/Oncology fellowships at both Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and at Dartmouth Hitchcock.[1]
In 2017, Dr, Dragnev was named the Irene Heinz Given Professor in Pharmacology at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. This endowed professorship is one of only two endowed chairs established at Geisel and represents one of the highest honors in academia.[2]
Research
Dr. Dragnev’s research is focused on a class of compounds that regulate cell growth, and specifically on rexinoids, which cause degradation of a protein that’s often overexpressed in lung cancer cells. He is actively engaged in numerous clinical trials, including a translational clinical trial based on his research that demonstrated benefits for lung cancer patients who had not responded to other treatments. His goal is to translate lab science into effective treatments for cancers characterized by specific molecular signatures.[2]
Dr. Dragnev has published 188 research works with 5411 citations and 8720 reads, including:
Representativeness of Patients Enrolled in the Lung Cancer Master Protocol (Lung-MAP). JCO precision oncology. 7. e2300218. 10.1200/PO.23.00218. Vaidya, Riha & Unger, Joseph & Qian, Lu & Minichiello, Katherine & Herbst, Roy & Gandara, David & Neal, Joel & Leal, Ticiana & Patel, Jyoti & Dragnev, Konstantin & Waqar, Saiama & Edelman, Martin & Sigal, Ellen & Adam, Stacey & Malik, Shakun & Blanke, Charles & LeBlanc, Michael & Kelly, Kezia & Gray, Jhanelle & Redman, Mary. (2023).
Phase II study of docetaxel and trametinib in patients with KRAS mutation-positive recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (SWOG S1507, NCT-02642042). Clinical cancer research: an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. 29. 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-3947. Gadgeel, Shirish & Miao, Jieling & Riess, Jonathan & Moon, James & Mack, Philip & Gerstner, Gregory & Burns, Timothy & Taj, Asma & Akerley, Wallace & Dragnev, Konstantin & Laudi, Noel & Redman, Mary & Gray, Jhanelle & Gandara, David & Kelly, Kezia. (2023).
Role of Neoadjuvant Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Resectable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Pharmaceuticals. 16. 233. 10.3390/ph16020233. Riano, Ivy & Abuali, Inas & Sharma, Aditya & Durant, Jewelia & Dragnev, Konstantin. (2023).
He is actively involved in 22 clinical trials focused on the lungs, including:
