Elizabeth Mittendorf, MD, PhD, MHCM, Named Chief of the Division of Breast Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Mittendorf Will Play Key Role in New Dana-Farber Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Collaboration

BOSTON – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) today announced the appointment of renowned surgeon and researcher Elizabeth Mittendorf, MD, PhD, MHCM, as Chief of a newly created Division of Breast Surgery within the Department of Surgery. Mittendorf will join BIDMC this fall.

An accomplished clinician and researcher, Dr. Mittendorf is a Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and the Robert and Karen Hale Endowed Chair in Surgical Oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Earlier this month, she was named President-elect of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the world's leading professional organization for physicians and oncology professionals. She is also Co-Leader of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Co-Leader of the Breast Program for the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.

“As we continue to advance our comprehensive collaboration with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which includes plans to build New England’s only free-standing cancer hospital, Dr. Mittendorf’s leadership will be instrumental to growing our breast care team,” said Pete Healy, President of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Beth Israel Lahey Health’s Divisional President for Metro Boston. “Her clinical and research expertise will be instrumental to our ongoing ability to deliver the very best, patient-centered care.”

“Dr. Mittendorf is internationally recognized as both a breast surgeon and as a groundbreaking innovator in immunotherapy for breast cancer. She was among the first to surmise that immunotherapy could have a role in caring for women with breast cancer which is now a standard of care in both early-stage and metastatic triple negative disease,” said Alexa B. Kimball, MD, MPH, President & CEO of Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at BIDMC. “We know that her leadership as a clinician, researcher and division chief will enrich and enhance the care of our patients and further our commitment to ultra-precision medicine for cancer.”

Elliot Chaikof, MD, PhD, Chief of BIDMC’s Department of Surgery, added, “Dr. Mittendorf’s immunotherapy research has changed the way patients are treated. Her expertise and contributions will be key to shaping cancer care at BIDMC and our collaboration with Dana-Farber. We are excited to welcome her to BIDMC.”

“I am honored to join BIDMC and HMFP and collaborate with colleagues to drive clinical excellence and future innovations in breast cancer care,” said Mittendorf. “Together, we will advance the vision of delivering extraordinary care to patients and push the boundaries of innovation in cancer research.”

Mittendorf has authored more than 380 peer-reviewed papers. Her clinical and research interests focus on the study of breast cancer with a specific interest in immunotherapy. She has been the principal investigator on numerous clinical trials, including the international phase III PRESENT (Prevention of Recurrence in Early-Stage, Node-Positive Breast Cancer with Low to Intermediate HER2 Expression with NeuVax Treatment) study. She also led a multicenter phase II trial examining the efficacy of CD8+ T cell-eliciting vaccine in combination with trastuzumab, which was based on preclinical data generated in her research laboratory and followed a phase I trial she conducted demonstrating the combination to be safe. In addition, Dr. Mittendorf’s laboratory was one of the first to show the expression of immune checkpoint molecule PD-L1 in triple negative breast cancer. She was subsequently invited to chair the steering committee and serve as the principal investigator on the IMPassion031 study, an international phase III trial that demonstrated improvements in rates of pathologic complete response in early-stage triple negative breast cancer patients administered the immunotherapeutic agent Atezolizumab in combination with chemotherapy in the preoperative setting.

Mittendorf’s current laboratory work is focused on investigating potential biomarkers of response and toxicity to preoperative immunotherapy plus chemotherapy and to determine the impact of that treatment on immunologic aspects of the tumor microenvironment to inform rational trials evaluating combination therapy.  She is also investigating the role of an individual's systemic immune system in predicting response to therapy.

Mittendorf earned her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from Duke University and her medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, where she also completed her residency in General Surgery. She then served on active duty in the US Air Force before completing a fellowship in Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She also holds a PhD in Immunology from the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and a Master in Healthcare Management degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.