Dr. Yap’s main research focuses on the first-in-human and combinatorial development of molecularly targeted agents and immunotherapies, and their acceleration through clinical studies using novel predictive and pharmacodynamic biomarkers. His main interests include the targeting of the DNA damage response (DDR) with novel therapeutics, such as ATR, PARP1, WEE1, POLQ, USP1, PKMYT1, PARG, CHK1, ATM and DNA-PK inhibitors, next generation CDK2, CDK4 and CDK7-selective inhibitors, YAP/TEAD inhibitors, Werner helicase inhibitors, SMARCA2 degraders, as well as the development of novel immunotherapeutics.   Prior to his current position, Dr. Yap was a Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden Hospital in London, UK and National Institute for Health Research BRC Clinician Scientist at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.   Dr. Yap gained his BSc degree with First Class Honors in Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Imperial College London, UK, and was awarded the Huggett Memorial Prize. His BSc laboratory research involved an immunogenetics study into the human T-cell lymphotropic virus under the supervision of Professor Charles Bangham. He subsequently went on to attain his Medical degree from Imperial College London, UK, before completing general medical training in Oxford.   Dr. Yap undertook a Clinical Fellowship in the Phase I Drug Development Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital with Professors Stan Kaye and Johann de Bono, before completing a PhD in Molecular Pharmacology in the Division of Cancer Therapeutics at The Institute of Cancer Research with Professors Michelle Garrett and Paul Workman under a Cancer Research UK Fellowship. His PhD laboratory research focused on the preclinical and clinical development of AKT inhibitors, and associated predictive and pharmacodynamic biomarkers. Dr. Yap completed his specialist training in medical oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital and was awarded a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Lectureship in Medical Oncology. He was subsequently appointed as Consultant Medical Oncologist and NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Clinician Scientist jointly in the Phase I Drug Development Unit, Lung Cancer Unit and Cancer Biomarkers Laboratory at the Royal Marsden Hospital and The Institute of Cancer Research in London, UK.   Dr. Yap is and/or has been Principal Investigator for multiple clinical trials and translational studies evaluating novel strategies for targeting the DNA damage response in cancer, such as PARP1/2, ATR, PARP1-selective, WEE1, POLQ, USP1, PKMYT1, PARG, CHK1, ATM and DNA-PK inhibitors, as well as agents against other synthetic lethal targets such as Werner helicase and SMARC2. He also leads early phase trials and translational studies of next generation CDK4 and CDK2-selective inhibitors, YAP/TEAD inhibitors, metabolic targets including Glutaminase and OXPHOS, epigenetic targets such as EZH2 and BET, and key signaling pathways, with a focus on the PI3K/AKT pathway. Dr. Yap is currently Principal Investigator of four NCI CTEP trials of novel combination therapies involving innovative biomarker-driven approaches across the NCI Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network. He was Lead Investigator for the AKT inhibitor arm of the UK National Lung Matrix Trial, which was one of the largest precision medicine trials in any cancer globally. Dr. Yap leads immuno-oncology clinical and associated translational studies, including novel agents targeting PD-1/PD-L1, ICOS, IDO, LAG3, TIM3, STING, TGFbeta, adenosine A2A receptor and fucosylation. He was previously the UK Chief Investigator for the CheckMate 331 Phase III trial in relapsed small cell lung cancer and the KEYNOTE-158 Phase II biomarker study in advanced solid tumors and multiple novel immunotherapy combination phase I trials.   His laboratory interests include the translational analysis of patient tumors and circulating tumor DNA as predictive biomarkers of response and resistance for novel agents in clinical trials and the development of pharmacodynamic biomarkers. Dr. Yap is PI of active peer reviewed federal grants, including a NIH/NCI R01, two Department of Defense (DOD) grants, a V Foundation Scholar grant, a Golfers against Cancer grant and a SINF grant, as well as previous grants from the British Lung Foundation, Academy of Medical Sciences and US Prostate Cancer Foundation.   Dr. Yap was the recipient of the 2019 NCI Michaele C. Christian Oncology Development Award, the 2020 V Foundation Scholar Award, the 2021 Irwin H. Krakoff Award for excellence in clinical research, and was a Honoree for President’s Recognition of Faculty Excellence at MD Anderson in 2021. He previously received the McElwain Prize in Medical Oncology from the UK Association of Cancer Physicians and a Young Investigator Award from the Prostate Cancer Foundation. He has also received five ASCO Foundation merit awards, the AACR-AstraZeneca International Scholar Award, AACR-Pezcoller Foundation Scholar Award, as well as awards from the EORTC and ETOP.    Dr. Yap has published more than two hundred articles in peer-reviewed journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Nature Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Cancer Cell, Science Translational Medicine, Nature Reviews Cancer and Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, as well as multiple book chapters. He has edited two books on the development of early phase clinical trials and on targeting the DNA Damage Response. Dr. Yap is a Scientific Editor of Cancer Discovery, and Associate Editor of the British Journal of Cancer and the Journal of Hematology & Oncology.    Dr. Yap was previously Co-Chair of the Clinical Trials Committee at the AACR Annual Meeting, Co-Chair of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, and Chair of the AACR Industry Roundtable meeting. He has served on the Scientific Program Committees of the ASCO, AACR, AACR-NCI-EORTC, ESMO, ESMO TAT, ESMO MAP and ESMO Asia Annual Conferences.   He is a member of the AACR Precision Combination Therapy Task Force and was previously a member of the ESMO OncologyPRO Working Group, the UK NCRI Lung Cancer Clinical Studies Group, the EORTC Lung Cancer Group and the EAPM Sub-Committee on Clinical Trials Framework. Dr. Yap previously served as co-leader of the Molecular Biology Module on The Institute of Cancer Research MSc Oncology Course and was a founding member of the UK ECMC Junior Investigator Network Group.    Dr. Yap is is currently Faculty on the EORTC-ESMO-AACR Workshop on Methods in Clinical Cancer Research, having previously served on the Faculty of the ASCO/AACR Methods in Clinical Cancer Research Workshop in Vail. He currently serves on the MD Anderson Academic Mentoring council and is a Program Lead of the Leading Clinical Research Faculty Learning Series.