Weiwei Chen, Ph.D.

Dr. Weiwei Chen obtained her Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology from New York University, where she studied the molecular interaction between the mediator complex and the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and the regulation of GR transcriptional activities. After graduation, she joined Genentech, Inc. to discover molecular targets important in promoting tumor angiogenesis and understand the molecular and functional crosstalk between tumor and tumor microenvironment with a focus on the paracrine mechanism of hedgehog signaling in ligand-dependent tumor types. Before joining PTGB, Dr. Chen served as Program Manager of the NCI Experimental Therapeutics (NExT) Program, through which extramural researchers may gain access to NCI’s cancer drug discovery and development resources. Dr. Chen's areas of interest reside in the preclinical discovery and development of pharmacological interventions to overcome cancer drug resistance and metastasis, and the impact of aging on cancer therapy development. She manages a portfolio highlighted with projects focusing on cancer target discovery and validation, proof-of-concept efficacy testing, therapy toxicity studies, and in vivo pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics characterization to improve the therapy of gastrointestinal cancers.