{"entity":{"id":"laura-esserman","kind":"person","name":"Laura J. Esserman","aka":[],"tldr":"Breast surgeon who built the I-SPY platform, the adaptive trial that tests new drugs before surgery.","summary":"Laura Esserman is Director of the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Principal Investigator of the I-SPY trials. A breast surgeon and trial innovator, she built I-SPY 2, the adaptive neoadjuvant platform trial that tests new drugs before surgery, and leads the WISDOM study of risk-based breast screening. Her papers include the New England Journal of Medicine report on adaptive randomisation of neratinib in early breast cancer and a JAMA article rethinking screening for breast cancer and prostate cancer. A prominent voice on overdiagnosis and de-escalation, her work spans triple-negative, HR-positive and HER2-positive breast cancer, mammography and AI in radiology.","asOf":"2026-09-08","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_J._Esserman","links":[{"label":"UCSF profile","url":"https://profiles.ucsf.edu/search/?searchtype=people&searchfor=Laura%20J.%20Esserman"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Esserman%20LJ%5BAuthor%5D"},{"label":"Google Scholar","url":"https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Laura%20J.%20Esserman"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["tnbc","breast-hr-positive","breast-her2-positive"],"sections":[],"technologies":["mammography","radiology-ai-screening"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["ucsf"],"pathways":[],"terms":["pcr","basket-umbrella-platform","rcb"],"trials":["i-spy-1","i-spy-2","i-spy-2-2","wisdom-trial"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"role":"Director, UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center; Principal Investigator, I-SPY trials","institutionId":"ucsf","specialisms":["Breast cancer","Adaptive trial design","Screening"],"profiles":[{"label":"UCSF profile","url":"https://profiles.ucsf.edu/search/?searchtype=people&searchfor=Laura%20J.%20Esserman"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Esserman%20LJ%5BAuthor%5D"},{"label":"Google Scholar","url":"https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Laura%20J.%20Esserman"}],"papers":[{"title":"Adaptive Randomization of Neratinib in Early Breast Cancer","journal":"New England Journal of Medicine","year":2016,"url":"https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc1609993","doi":"10.1056/NEJMc1609993"},{"title":"Rethinking screening for breast cancer and prostate cancer","journal":"JAMA","year":2009,"url":"https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2009.1498","doi":"10.1001/jama.2009.1498"}]},"route":"/people/laura-esserman/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"breast-her2-positive","kind":"cancer","name":"HER2-positive breast cancer","route":"/cancers/breast-her2-positive/"},{"id":"breast-hr-positive","kind":"cancer","name":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","route":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/"},{"id":"tnbc","kind":"cancer","name":"Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)","route":"/cancers/tnbc/"}],"technology":[{"id":"radiology-ai-screening","kind":"technology","name":"AI in radiology","route":"/technologies/radiology-ai-screening/"},{"id":"mammography","kind":"technology","name":"Mammography & tomosynthesis","route":"/technologies/mammography/"}],"institution":[{"id":"ucsf","kind":"institution","name":"UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/ucsf/"}],"term":[{"id":"basket-umbrella-platform","kind":"term","name":"Basket, umbrella, and platform trials","route":"/terms/basket-umbrella-platform/"},{"id":"master-protocol","kind":"term","name":"Master protocol (platform, basket and umbrella trials)","route":"/terms/master-protocol/"},{"id":"pcr","kind":"term","name":"Pathologic complete response (pCR)","route":"/terms/pcr/"},{"id":"rcb","kind":"term","name":"Residual cancer burden (RCB)","route":"/terms/rcb/"}],"trial":[{"id":"i-spy-1","kind":"trial","name":"I-SPY 1 (CALGB 150007/150012, ACRIN 6657)","route":"/trials/i-spy-1/"},{"id":"i-spy-2","kind":"trial","name":"I-SPY 2","route":"/trials/i-spy-2/"},{"id":"i-spy-2-2","kind":"trial","name":"I-SPY 2.2","route":"/trials/i-spy-2-2/"},{"id":"wisdom-trial","kind":"trial","name":"WISDOM (Women Informed to Screen Depending on Measures of Risk)","route":"/trials/wisdom-trial/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-magbanua-ispy2-ctdna-neoadjuvant-ann-oncol-2021","kind":"paper","name":"Circulating tumor DNA in neoadjuvant-treated breast cancer reflects response and survival","route":"/key-papers/paper-magbanua-ispy2-ctdna-neoadjuvant-ann-oncol-2021/"},{"id":"paper-horiuchi-myc-tnbc-cdk-synthetic-lethal-jem-2012","kind":"paper","name":"MYC pathway activation in triple-negative breast cancer is synthetic lethal with CDK inhibition","route":"/key-papers/paper-horiuchi-myc-tnbc-cdk-synthetic-lethal-jem-2012/"}],"company":[{"id":"quantum-leap-healthcare-collaborative","kind":"company","name":"Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative","route":"/companies/quantum-leap-healthcare-collaborative/"}]}}