Sunil Verma
I am the Global Head of Oncology, Medical in AstraZeneca’s Oncology Business Unit, helping to drive our vision to redefine cancer care. We advance the practice of cancer care through robust evidence generation, scientific partnerships and helping to reimagine the future cancer care paradigm. Our science-focused approach along with evidence builds the confidence in the decision making process for clinicians and patients.
Prior to my current role, I led AstraZeneca’s global research and development in breast cancer. As part of that work, I led the development and execution of our breast cancer strategy, establishing the tumour council model, and designed and established our industry leading clinical development program in Breast Cancer.
I joined AstraZeneca after nearly 15 years as a Medical Oncologist, focusing on breast and lung cancer. I achieved international recognition for my research and educational leadership, which included being principal investigator for many pivotal trials in breast cancer including several practice-changing Phase III trials. My work has been published in more than 125 peer-reviewed manuscripts including in the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Journal of Clinical Oncology and Cancer. I have also led and created numerous innovative educational projects in oncology and won several teaching and mentoring awards.
In addition to the impact on clinical research and clinical care, I am proud of my role as a mentor to clinicians and cancer research pioneers. Over my career, I have mentored more than 100 residents, fellows and faculty and it truly is a great honour to see many of them develop to become leaders in Cancer centres around the globe.
I have chaired, co-chaired or been a member of many regional and national health services cancer leadership committees in Canada and international cancer conference leadership committees, with a focus on driving improved patient outcomes across the world.
After receiving a medical degree and postgraduate training in internal medicine and medical oncology at the University of Alberta in Canada, I earned a Masters in Medical Education at the University of Southern California. My training in breast cancer included a fellowship at the University of Toronto.
Throughout my career I have been driven to make changes that bring real benefits for people with cancer. We are at an unprecedented time where the cancer care landscape is on the verge of being completely transformed, and I believe the team here at AstraZeneca will have a critical role in shaping our vision and working with the oncology community to make it a reality. Our best-in-class research programs covering areas such as antibody drug conjugates, DNA damage response, immuno-oncology, tumor drivers and resistance, as well as our digital expertise and collaborative approach put us in a unique place to make our ambition a reality.
Top 25 Young Breast Oncologists in the World (2006)
Outstanding Teaching Award (2005, 2007, 2011)
Distinguished Alumni Award
CURRENT ROLE
2019-2021
2015-2019
2004-2015
Overall Survival with Palbociclib and Fulvestrant in Advanced Breast Cancer
Turner NC, Slamon DJ, Ro J, Bondarenko I, Im SA, Masuda N, Colleoni M, DeMichele A, Loi S, Verma S, Iwata H. N Engl J Med. 2018 Nov 15;379(20):1926-36.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1810527
Palbociclib plus endocrine therapy in older women with HR+/HER2–advanced breast cancer: a pooled analysis of randomised PALOMA clinical studies
Rugo HS, Turner NC, Finn RS, Joy AA, Verma S, Harbeck N, Masuda N, Im SA, Huang X, Kim S, Sun W. Iyer S, Schnell P, Bartlett CH, Johnston S. Eur J Cancer. 2018 Sep 1;101:123-33.
https://www.ejcancer.com/article/S0959-8049(18)30908-0/fulltext
Health-related quality of life of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative advanced breast cancer treated with ribociclib + letrozole: results from MONALEESA-2
Verma S, O’Shaughnessy J, Burris HA, Campone M, Alba E, Chandiwana D, Dalal AA, Sutradhar S, Monaco M, Janni W. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2018 Aug1;170(3):535-45.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10549-018-4769-z
Trastuzumab emtansine versus capecitabine plus lapatinib in patients with previously treated HER2-positive advanced breast cancer (EMILIA): a descriptive analysis of final overall survival results from a randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial
Diéras V, Miles D, Verma S, Pegram M, Welslau M, Baselga J, Krop IE, Blackwell K, Hoersch S, Xu J, Green M, Gianni L. Lancet Oncol. 2017 Jun;18(6):732–742.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(17)30312-1/fulltext
Palbociclib in Combination With Fulvestrant in Women With Hormone Receptor-Positive/HER2-Negative Advanced Metastatic Breast Cancer: Detailed Safety Analysis From a Multicenter, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Phase III Study (PALOMA-3)
Verma S, Bartlett CH, Schnell P, Demichele AM, Loi S, Ro J, Colleoni M, Iwata H, Harbeck N, Cristofanilli M, Zhang K, Thielse A, Turner NC, Rugo HS. Oncologist. 2016 Oct;21(10):1165-75.
https://theoncologist.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1634/theoncologist.2016-0097
Trastuzumab Emtansine for HER2-Positive Advanced Breast Cancer
Verma S, Miles D, Gianni L, Krop IE, Welslau M, Baselga J, Pegram M, Oh DY, Diéras V, Guardino E, Fang L, Lu MW, Olsen S, Blackwell K, EMILIA Study Group, N Engl J Med. 2012 Nov 8;367(19):1783-91.
Emerging trends in the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer in Canada: a survey
Verma S, Provencher L, Dent R, Curr Oncol. 2011 Aug 03;18(4):180-90.
https://current-oncology.com/index.php/oncology/article/view/913
Patient adherence to aromatase inhibitor treatment in the adjuvant setting
Verma S, Madarnas Y, Sehdev S, Martin G, Bajcar J. Curr Oncol. 2011 May;18 Suppl 1:S3-9.
https://current-oncology.com/index.php/oncology/article/view/899
Is cardiotoxicity being adequately assessed in current trials of cytotoxic and targeted agents in breast cancer?
Verma S, Ewer MS. Ann Oncol. 2011 May;22(5):1011-8.
https://www.annalsofoncology.org/article/S0923-7534(19)38535-7/fulltext