Professor Daniel Tan

Affiliations

• Cancer Clinical Trials & Investigational Medicine Units Platform Lead, Singapore Translational Cancer Consortium

• Senior Consultant Medical Oncologist, National Cancer Centre Singapore 

• Senior Clinician-Scientist, Genome Institute of Singapore 

Profile  

Professor Daniel Tan has a specialist interest in thoracic, head and neck oncology and cancer drug development. His work is focused on addressing the translational gap between basic science and clinical practice – particularly in improving our understanding of the determinants of response and resistance to targeted therapy and immunotherapy. 

In recognition of his research, he received the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Merit Award twice, an ASCO Young Investigator Award and the SingHealth GCEO Outstanding Clinician-Researcher Award (2016). In 2019, he was awarded the Daniel C. Idhe Lectureship in Medical Oncology from the International Association for Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2019 for his ‘extensive contributions in the lung cancer arena’. He was twice awarded the Clinician-Scientist Award from the National Medical Research Council of Singapore (NMRC). He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, including top tier journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Nature, Nature Genetics, Nature Medicine and Journal of Clinical Oncology. 

Dr. Tan received undergraduate training at St Bartholomew’s and Royal London Hospitals in the United Kingdom, obtained First Class honours for an Intercalated BSc in Tumor Biology from University College London (UCL), and undertook a postgraduate fellowship in drug development at the Royal Marsden Hospital. In 2017, he completed his PhD in Cancer Biology from Cancer Science Institute, National University of Singapore. 

Selected Publications 

• Soria JC, Tan DS, Chiari R, Wu YL, Paz-Ares L, Wolf J, Geater SL, Orlov S, Cortinovis D, Yu CJ, Hochmair M, Cortot AB, Tsai CM, Moro-Sibilot D, Campelo RG, McCulloch T, Sen P, Dugan M, Pantano S, Branle F, Massacesi C, de Castro G Jr. First-line ceritinib versus platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced ALK-rearranged non-small-cell lung cancer (ASCEND-4): a randomised, open-label, phase 3 study. Lancet. 2017 Mar 4;389(10072):917-929. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30123-X. Epub 2017 Jan 24. ↗ (opens in new tab)  

• Sutiman N, Tan SW, Tan EH, Lim WT, Kanesvaran R, Ng QS, Jain A, Ang MK, Tan WL, Toh CK, Chowbay B. EGFR Mutation Subtypes Influence Survival Outcomes following First-Line Gefitinib Therapy in Advanced Asian NSCLC Patients. J Thorac Oncol. 2017 Mar;12(3):529-538. doi: 10.1016/j.jtho.2016.11.2225. Epub 2016 Nov 28. ↗ (opens in new tab)  

• Simoni Y, Fehlings M, Kløverpris HN, McGovern N, Koo SL, Loh CY, Lim S, Kurioka A, Fergusson JR, Tang CL, Kam MH, Dennis K, Lim TK, Fui AC, Hoong CW, Chan JK, Curotto de Lafaille M, Narayanan S, Baig S, Shabeer M, Toh SE, Tan HK, Anicete R, Tan EH, Takano A, Klenerman P, Leslie A, Tan DS, Tan IB, Ginhoux F, Newell EW. Human Innate Lymphoid Cell Subsets Possess Tissue-Type Based Heterogeneity in Phenotype and Frequency. Immunity. 2017 Jan 17;46(1):148-161. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2016.11.005. ↗ (opens in new tab)  

• Soria JC, Tan DS, Chiari R, Wu YL, Paz-Ares L, Wolf J, Geater SL, Orlov S, Cortinovis D, Yu CJ, Hochmair M, Cortot AB, Tsai CM, Moro-Sibilot D, Campelo RG, McCulloch T, Sen P, Dugan M, Pantano S, Branle F, Massacesi C, de Castro G Jr. First-line ceritinib versus platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced ALK-rearranged non-small-cell lung cancer (ASCEND-4): a randomised, open-label, phase 3 study. Lancet. 2017 Jan 23. pii: S0140-6736(17)30123-X. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30123-X. [Epub ahead of print] ↗ (opens in new tab)  

• Rajasekaran T, Ng QS, Tan DS, Lim WT, Ang MK, Toh CK, Chowbay B, Kanesvaran R, Tan EH. Metronomic chemotherapy: A relook at its basis and rationale. Cancer Lett. 2016 Dec 18;388:328-333. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2016.12.013. [Epub ahead of print] ↗ (opens in new tab) 

Research Trials 

• A phase II, multicenter, open-label study of EGF816 in combination with Nivolumab in adult patients with EGFR mutated non-small cell lung cancer and of INC280 in combination with Nivolumab in adult patients with cMet positive non-small cell lung cancer (DT), 2015  

• A Phase 3 Multicenter Open-label Study of Brigatinib (AP26113) versus Crizotinib in Patients with ALK-positive Advanced Lung Cancer  

• An open-label, multi-center, Phase IV, roll-over study in patients with ALK positive malignancies who have completed a prior Novartis-sponsored ceritinib (LDK378) study and are judged by the investigator to benefit from continued treatment with ceritinib (DT), 2015  

• A Randomized, Multicenter, Double-Blind, Phase 3 Study of Nivolumab, Nivolumab in Combination with Ipilimumab, or Placebo as Maintenance Therapy in Subjects with Extensive- Stage Disease Small Cell Lung Cancer (ED-SCLC) after Completion of Platinum-based First Line Chemotherapy (Dlim), 2015  

• A phase I dose finding study of oral LTT462 in adult patients with advanced solid tumors harboring MAPK pathway alterations, 2016  

• A Phase Ib/II Multi-centre, Randomized, Open-label Trial to Compare MSC2156119J combined with Gefitinib Versus Chemotherapy as Second Line Treatment in Subjects with MET Positive, Locally Advanced or Metastatic Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Harboring EGFR Mutation and Having Acquired Resistance to First Line Gefitinib, 2013  

• A phase I, multi-center, open label dose escalation and expansion study of EGFRmut-TKI EGF816, administered orally in adult patients with EGFR-mut solid malignancies, 2014