# Barbara Burtness

Source: https://onco.cc/people/barbara-burtness/  
OnCo record `barbara-burtness` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Led KEYNOTE-048, which made pembrolizumab first-line therapy for recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer.

## Summary

Barbara Burtness (Yale Cancer Center) was principal investigator of KEYNOTE-048, which showed pembrolizumab alone or with chemotherapy improves survival over the EXTREME regimen in recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, establishing PD-1 blockade first line. She chaired the ECOG-ACRIN head and neck committee for many years and led the early cetuximab trials in the disease.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Tags: head-and-neck; immunotherapy; ecog-acrin
- Role: Professor of Medicine and Co-Leader, Developmental Therapeutics, Yale Cancer Center
- Specialisms: Head and neck cancer; Immunotherapy; Cooperative-group trials; HPV-associated cancer

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Burtness
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Burtness%20B%5BAuthor%5D%20head%20neck%20pembrolizumab

## Connected records

- cancers: [Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/head-and-neck/)
- technologies: [Immune checkpoint inhibitors](https://onco.cc/technologies/checkpoint-inhibitor/)
- targets: [EGFR](https://onco.cc/targets/egfr/), [PD-1](https://onco.cc/targets/pd1/)
- drugs: [Pembrolizumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/pembrolizumab/)
- institutions: [Yale Cancer Center / Smilow Cancer Hospital](https://onco.cc/institutions/yale-cancer-center/)
- trials: [KEYNOTE-048](https://onco.cc/trials/keynote-048/)
- key papers: [KEYNOTE-048: pembrolizumab, alone or with chemotherapy, as first treatment for recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-keynote-048-lancet-2019/)

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