# Maura L. Gillison

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

## TL;DR

Established that HPV causes a distinct, better-prognosis form of throat cancer and led RTOG 1016 on how to treat it.

## Summary

Maura Gillison's work established human papillomavirus as the cause of a rising epidemic of oropharyngeal cancer with a far better prognosis than tobacco-related disease, leading to a separate staging system. She led RTOG 0129 analyses defining HPV as a prognostic factor and RTOG 1016, which showed cetuximab cannot replace cisplatin in HPV-positive disease, a key de-escalation failure. Her work continues on ctDNA and HPV-directed therapy.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Tags: head-and-neck; hpv; de-escalation
- Role: Professor of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Specialisms: HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer; Head and neck cancer; Viral oncology; De-escalation trials

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maura_L._Gillison
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Gillison%20ML%5BAuthor%5D%20HPV%20oropharyngeal

## Connected records

- cancers: [Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/head-and-neck/)
- technologies: [HPV & HBV vaccination](https://onco.cc/technologies/hpv-vaccine/), [Liquid biopsy (ctDNA)](https://onco.cc/technologies/liquid-biopsy/)
- institutions: [MD Anderson Cancer Center](https://onco.cc/institutions/md-anderson/)
- trials: [RTOG 0129 (HPV analysis)](https://onco.cc/trials/rtog-0129/)

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