Frank A. Sinicrope, MD, FACP

Research Interests: Molecular profiling and subtyping of colorectal cancers, tumor immune microenvironment, predictive and prognostic biomarkers, oncogene-mediated drug resistance and role of defective apoptotic signaling

Dr. Sinicrope is a physician scientist and translational researcher with a focus in colorectal cancer. Research objectives include identification of biomarkers to improve therapeutic response, circumvent drug resistance, and enhance risk stratification and prognostication. He serves as Professor in the Department of Oncology, co-leader of the GI Cancer Program within the Mayo Comprehensive Cancer Center and is a Clinical Investigator of the Mayo Foundation. .

He obtained his MD degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Following residency in internal medicine, he did fellowship training in Gastroenterology & Hepatology at U. of Chicago where he became interested in cancer biology, and subsequently completed a second fellowship in Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and joined the faculty in the Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology where he was Associate Professor.

Dr. Sinicrope was recruited to the Department of Oncology at Mayo Clinic in 2002 and has maintained an active research laboratory in addition to clinical studies in cancer prevention and treatment. He is currently the principal investigator of the first phase 3 adjuvant immunotherapy trial in patients with stage III colon cancers with microsatellite instability (ATOMIC) being conducted within the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. Dr. Sinicrope is a productive and highly cited researcher. A recent finding from his lab describes a mechanism by which absent or low PD-L1 expression in colorectal cancer cells can confer drug resistance due to enhanced activity of JNK which was shown to mediate BIM phosphorylation and its sequestration by anti-apoptotic BCL-2 proteins.

Editorial Board Member of PCM
Term of Appointment: Aug 2021 – Jul 2023

Updated on July 23, 2021