The Ellison Clinic will be closed for Winter Recess beginning Monday, Dec. 23 at 5 p.m. and will resume regular operations on Friday, Jan. 3 at 8:30 a.m. For any urgent matters, please call the answering service at (310) 272-7640(310) 272-7640 to get connected with your provider.
Ellison Institute of Technology

Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, FACP

Visiting Member, Ellison Medical Institute
Professor of Medicine & Preventative Medicine
J. Terrence Lanni Chair in Cancer Research
Co-Director, USC Center for Molecular Pathways & Drug Discovery

Keck Faculty Page

Heinz-Josef Lenz, M.D., FACP, is a Visiting Member at the Ellison Medical Institute, a Professor of Medicine and Preventive Medicine, holds J Terrence Lanni Chair for Cancer Research and is the Associate Director for Clinical Sciences at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at the USC Keck School of Medicine. He is the head of GI Oncology in the Division of Medical Oncology and Co-Director of the Colorectal Center at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

An active researcher, Dr. Lenz focuses on identification of predictive and prognostic biomarker and is an expert on early drug development. Dr. Lenz serves as Chair of the Translational Medicine of the SWOG GI Committee. He is a member of the NCI Task Force for Gastroesophageal Cancer and the NCI Translational Science Committee. He is a member of the NCI Investigational Drug Steering Committee. In addition to having an NCI-funded laboratory, he was a recipient of the ASCO Young Investigator Award, the ASCO Career Development Award, NCI Midcareer Development and the STOP Cancer Career Development Award. He is the PI of the NCI drug development grants USC UG1 and UM1 (California Cancer Consortium) He has published over 430 peer reviewed papers. 

Research Focus

Gastrointestinal Cancers
Colorectal Cancers
Drug Resistance

Education

MD

Johannes-Gutenberg Universität, Mainz, Germany- 1978-1985

MD

University Hospital Tübingen, Deptartment of Hematology and Oncology, Tübingen, Germany-1985–1991

Awards

  • Outstanding Investigator Award-Western Society of Clinical Investigation WSCI, Southern Regional meeting, January 30, 2016
  • The WunderGlo Foundation, Lifetime Achievement Award, September 2015 
  •  The WunderGlo Foundation, 1st Annual Cancer Warrior Award, June 21, 2012 
  • Marquis Who’s Who in America, Honor, 2008
  • “Everyday Hero” Award, Yes We Care! Campaign, wellsphere.com, 2008
  • Stop Cancer 20th Anniversary Research Advancement Award in Drug Development for Colon Cancer Patients, October 8, 2008 
  • Listed in Guide to America’s Top Physicians, 2007 – Present 
  •  The Gallo Award, The 2003 Annual Retreat on Cancer Research in New Jersey, June 11, 2003 
  • Bob Chandler Courage Award, USC, 2003 
  • Listed in Best Doctors of America database (internet database: bestdoctors.com), 2003 – Present 
  •  The Wellness Community – Foothills, Volunteer Service Award, June 6, 2003
  • ASCO Career Development 1995-1998
  • ASCO Young Investigators Awards 1994 

Leadership

  • J. Terrence Lanni Chair in Cancer Research, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 2015-Present
  • USC Center for Molecular Pathways and Drug Discovery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Souther California, Co-Director, 2010-Present
  • Professor of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 2005-Present
  • Professor of Preventive Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 2005-Present
  • Associate Director of Adult Oncology, USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA, 2007-Present
  • Section Head, GI Oncology, Division of Medical Oncology, Keck School of Medicine, CA, 2004–Present
  • Co-Director, Colorectal Center, USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA, 2002–Present
  • Program Co-Leader, GI Cancers Program, USC/Norris Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA, 1998–Present
  • Scientific Director, Cancer Genetics Unit, USC/Norris Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA, 1997–Present
  • Multidisciplinary GI Conference, Wednesday 1:30-2:30pm , LAC+USC Medical Center, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, 1996-Present
  • Multidisciplinary GI Conference, Tuesday 4-5pm, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, 1996-Present
  • Attending in the GI Outpatient Clinic, Tuesday 1-5pm, LAC-USC Medical Center, 1994-Present
  • Attending in Medicine and Oncology in LAC+USC Medical Center and Norris Cancer Hospital, Keck School of Medicine, 1994-Present
  • Department of Gastroenterology, Gastric and Colorectal Cancer, since 2002
  • Annual Didactic Fellowship Lectures in GI Cancer, since 2000
  • Professional Advisory Board, The Wellness Community-Foothills, Pasadena, CA, 1999–Present
  • Chairman of the Annual USC Colorectal Cancer Symposium, University of Southern California Health Sciences Campus, Los Angeles, CA, since 1999
  • Course Director of USC Colorectal Cancer Symposium, University of Southern California Health Sciences Campus, Los Angeles, CA, since 2004
  • Debbie’s Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer Medical Advisory Board Member, since 2014

Selected Publications

Guercio BJ, Zhang S, Ou FS, Venook AP, Niedzwiecki D, Lenz HJ, Innocenti F, O’Neil BH, Shaw JE, Polite BN, Hochster HS, Atkins JN, Goldberg RM, Sato K, Ng K, Van Blarigan E, Mayer RJ, Blanke CD, O’Reilly EM, Fuchs CS, Meyerhardt J Associations of Physical Activity With Survival and Progression in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Results From Cancer and Leukemia Group B (Alliance)/SWOG 80405A.J Clin Oncol. 2019 Oct 10;37(29):2620-2631. doi: 10.1200/JCO.19.01019. Epub 2019 Aug 13. PMID: 31408415 [PubMed – in process] 

Davis SL, Cardin DB, Shahda S, Lenz HJ, Dotan E, O’Neil BH, Kapoun AM, Stagg RJ, Berlin J, Messersmith WA, Cohen SJ. A phase 1b dose escalation study of Wnt pathway inhibitor vantictumab in combination with nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine in patients with previously untreated metastatic pancreatic cancer.  Invest New Drugs. 2019 Jul 23. doi: 10.1007/s10637-019-00824-1. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 31338636 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]

Bekaii-Saab TS, Ou FS, Ahn DH, Boland PM, Ciombor KK, Heying EN, Dockter TJ, Jacobs NL, Pasche BC, Cleary JM, Meyers JP, Desnoyers RJ, McCune JS, Pedersen K, Barzi A, Chiorean EG, Sloan J, Lacouture ME, Lenz HJ, Grothey A. Regorafenib dose-optimisation in patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (ReDOS): a randomised, multicentre, open-label, phase 2 study. Lancet Oncol. 2019 Aug;20(8):1070-1082. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(19)30272-4. Epub 2019 Jun 28. PMID: 31262657 [PubMed – in process]

Hu Z, Ding J, Ma Z, Sun R, Seoane JA, Scott Shaffer J, Suarez CJ, Berghoff AS, Cremolini C, Falcone A, Loupakis F, Birner P, Preusser M, Lenz HJ, Curtis C. Quantitative evidence for early metastatic seeding in colorectal cancer. Nat Genet. 2019 Jul;51(7):1113-1122. doi: 10.1038/s41588-019-0423-x. Epub 2019 Jun 17.PMID: 31209394 [PubMed – in process]

El-Deiry WS, Goldberg RM, Lenz HJ, Shields AF, Gibney GT, Tan AR, Brown J, Eisenberg B, Heath EI, Phuphanich S, Kim E, Brenner AJ, Marshall JL.The current state of molecular testing in the treatment of patients with solid tumors, 2019. CA Cancer J Clin. 2019 Jul;69(4):305-343. doi: 10.3322/caac.21560. Epub 2019 May 22. Review. PMID: 31116423 [PubMed – in process] Free PMC Article 

Lenz HJ, Ou FS, Venook AP, Hochster HS, Niedzwiecki D, Goldberg RM, Mayer RJ, Bertagnolli MM, Blanke CD, Zemla T, Qu X, Wirapati P, Tejpar S, Innocenti F, Kabbarah O Impact of Consensus Molecular Subtype on Survival in Patients With Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Results From CALGB/SWOG 80405 (Alliance). J Clin Oncol. 2019 Aug 1;37(22):1876-1885. doi: 10.1200/JCO.18.02258. Epub 2019 May 1. PMID: 31042420 [PubMed – in process]

Weekes C, Lockhart AC, Lee JJ, Sturm I, Cleton A, Huang F, Lenz HJ A phase 1b study evaluating the safety and pharmacokinetics of regorafenib in combination with cetuximab in patients with advanced solid tumors.. Int J Cancer. 2019 Nov 1;145(9):2450-2458. doi: 10.1002/ijc.32317. Epub 2019 Jun 14. PMID: 30958892 [PubMed – in process] Free PMC Article 

Innocenti F, Ou FS, Qu X, Zemla TJ, Niedzwiecki D, Tam R, Mahajan S, Goldberg RM, Bertagnolli MM, Blanke CD, Sanoff H, Atkins J, Polite B, Venook AP, Lenz HJ Mutational Analysis of Patients With Colorectal Cancer in CALGB/SWOG 80405 Identifies New Roles of Microsatellite Instability and Tumor Mutational Burden for Patient Outcome. J Clin Oncol. 2019 May 10;37(14):1217-1227. doi: 10.1200/JCO.18.01798. Epub 2019 Mar 13. PMID: 30865548 [PubMed – in process] 

Tokunaga R, Xiu J, Johnston C, Goldberg RM, Philip PA, Seeber A, Naseem M, Lo JH, Arai H, Battaglin F, Puccini A, Berger MD, Soni S, Zhang W, Hwang JJ, Shields AF, Marshall JL, Baba H, Korn WM, Lenz HJ. Molecular Profiling of Appendiceal Adenocarcinoma and Comparison with Right-sided and Left-sided Colorectal Cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2019 May 15;25(10):3096-3103. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-18-3388. Epub 2019 Jan 28. PMID: 30692096 [PubMed – in process] 

Parikh AR, Lee FC, Yau L, Koh H, Knost J, Mitchell EP, Bosanac I, Choong N, Scappaticci F, Mancao C, Lenz HJ. MAVERICC, a Randomized, Biomarker-stratified, Phase II Study of mFOLFOX6-Bevacizumab versus FOLFIRI-Bevacizumab as First-line Chemotherapy in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2019 May 15;25(10):2988-2995. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-18-1221. Epub 2018 Sep 17. PMID: 30224341 [PubMed – in process]

All Publications