Qamar Khan, MD

Qamar J. Khan, MD, is a professor of medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, KS. Dr Khan received his medical degree from King Edward’s Medical College in Pakistan. He completed his internship and residency at Bridgeport Hospital, Yale University in Bridgeport, CT and his fellowship at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He is board certified in internal medicine for both medical oncology and hematology.

Dr Khan is a breast oncologist with a focus on treatment of breast cancer. Since joining the faculty in the division of hematology and oncology at the university, he has been involved in the design and conduct of clinical trials, especially investigator-initiated trials (IITs). Dr Khan has designed and received funding for several IITs. His main area of research is neo-adjuvant therapy for breast cancer.

Dr Khan is the Director of Breast Oncology Program at KU and serves as the Chair of the KU Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee (PRMC). PRMC conducts independent scientific reviews and bio statistical reviews of all trials being initiated at the cancer center, is responsible for prioritization of new trials to ensure the availability of adequate patient numbers and resources, and conducts monitoring of activated protocols for their continued scientific relevance and accrual.

Dr Khan has been awarded the University of Kansas Cancer Center Director’s Clinic Trial Accrual Award and the University of Kansas Medical Center Top Doc Award. Dr Khan has numerous submitted articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, Supportive Care in Cancer, Clinical Cancer Research, and The New England Journal of Medicine.

Since joining as a faculty member in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the University, I have been very involved in the design and conduct of clinical trials, especially investigator initiated trials (IITs). Initially, the focus of my research was breast cancer prevention and I was able to publish in prestigious peer review journals such as breast cancer research and cancer epidemiology biomarkers and prevention (CEBP) as the primary author.

I designed and completed a pilot phase II trial (IIT funded by pharma) to study the effect of vitamin D supplementation on joint pain and fatigue in women with breast cancer receiving an adjuvant aromatase inhibitor. Based on the results of this trial, I designed a randomized trial (The VITAL trial) which enrolled 160 patients with breast cancer over 12 months. This was completed via a successful collaboration between KU and Wichita CCOP and the results were presented as an oral presentation at 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting. This presentation was also selected as a BEST of ASCO trial. Final results were published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment in 2017.

More recently, the focus of my research has shifted to breast cancer therapeutic trials, especially neo-adjuvant treatment trials. I have designed and have received funding for seven investigator-initiated trials.

A randomized trial of Femara (Letrozole) plus Ribociclib (LEE011) or placebo as neo-adjuvant endocrine therapy for women with ER-positive, HER2-negative, early breast cancer: The FELINE trial. CLEE011XUS10T