Nikhil C. Munshi, MD
Nikhil C. Munshi, MD is Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and the Director of Basic and Correlative Science, and Associate Director of the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and an attending physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Boston VA Healthcare system, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Munshi received his medical degree from the M.S. University and the S.S.G. Hospital and in Baroda, India. He completed a Research Fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center in Baltimore, Maryland, before receiving a clinical fellowship in hematology/oncology at Indiana University Medical Center – 1990.
Dr. Munshi is a recognized international leader who is a major force in translational research in multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer. His research focus spans both basic sciences to understand molecular mechanisms driving the genomic instability in cancer to translational approaches directed at improving diagnosis and prognosis as well as therapeutics including novel antigen-directed immunotherapy/vaccine approaches and small molecules for myeloma. His research has provided pivotal understanding of genomic changes in myeloma. He was the first to describe the mutational spectrum and clonal architecture in multiple myeloma, define the patterns of clonal evolution and mutational signatures being utilized in myeloma and develop a novel targeted sequencing platform. Dr. Munshi has been a tremendous leader, building collaborative interactions all around the world. He has developed a world-class translational research program at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School with a focus on moving laboratory observations to the bedside in clinical trials
He has over 400 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. Dr. Munshi has organized and chaired number of guideline panels to develop consensus recommendations for management of myeloma. He has contributed chapters on plasma cell neoplasms in the prestigious Harrison’s Principles and Practice of Internal Medicine; DeVita’s Principles and Practice of Oncology, and Hoffman’s Principle and Practice of Hematology. Dr. Munshi has mentored over 50 junior faculties, post-doctoral fellows, medical residents, as well as medical and undergraduate students both in the clinical setting, but more importantly in lab research. His grant support has included Program Project and SPORE grants from National Institutes of Health, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and VA Research grants. He serves as a co-chair of the National Steering Committee on Myeloma (National Cancer Institute) to direct the activities of all US Co-Operative Oncology Groups, which will shape all future major clinical trials in myeloma in the United States. He is member of the National Cancer Institute Clinical Trials and Translational Research Advisory Committee. He received a Leukemia Society of America Scholar in Translational Research awarded and is a founding member and vice-president of the International Myeloma Society. He has received a lifetime achievement award from Association of VA Hematologist and Oncologist. Importantly, he was awarded the most prestigious award in myeloma, the “Waldenström’s Award”, for the most Distinguished Lifetime Achievement in Myeloma Research in 2013.
