David Khayat

Professor David Khayat was born on August, 27th 1956.
He made his medical studies at the university of Nice (1974 to 1980). In 1980, he became interne and resident in oncology at the Paris hospitals (1980 to 1985).
During the four years of his training, he has been working with George Mathé, Claude Jacquillat, Jean Bernard, Michel Boiron and others figures of the french oncology.
In parallel to his training in oncology, he got a Master of Science in the field of tumor immunology. For that reason, he spent 18 months at the university of Tel Aviv, department of immunology (Professor Isaac Witz) from 1982 to 1983. Then, after he came back to France, he finished his training in medical oncology and got his MD and his board certification in oncology in 1985.

In 1986, he went to the Mount Sinaï school medicine in New York (department of biochemistry, J.C Unkeless) and got his Ph. D in tumor immunology in 1988 at the university Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris. During his Ph. D, he has been working on the identification and purification of the soluble Fc receptors both in mouse and human sera, and set up a new ELISA sandwich assay for the detection and the quantitive dosage of this soluble molecule and demonstrate, trough different papers, the relationship between the release of this soluble receptor in human serum (formally called immunoglobuling binding factors IBF) and different pathologic situations.

He got a position of assistant professor in 1985 in the department medical oncology at Pitié - Salpetrière which is a teaching university hospital which belong to the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris network, and a position of full professor of medicine at the university Pierre and Marie Curie in 1989.

In 1990, he became the head of the department of medical oncology at Pitié -Salpêtrière hospital where he developed a research lab working both, on tumor immunology and on the pharmacokinetic of anti cancer drugs. At the same time, he took over the international congresses on anti-cancer treatment which are organized by the SOMPS (Service Oncology of Pitié-Salpetrière in Paris) and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston Texas.

In 1998, he organized the french oncologists through the French Federation of Medical Oncologists (FFOM) and was elected its first President until 2001. He set up also the master of excellence in medicine in oncology which is a teaching program recognized as a tool to increase the level of skills and knowledge of young oncologists in France in order to allow them to become the future opinion leaders that would take french oncology a step forward in the international arena.

He was along with Gabriel Hortobagyi from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of the organizers of the World Summit against Cancer (2000, 2001) and the Charter of Paris against Cancer (2000).
He is working on new drug development and his center is one the few centers in France that is fully equipped and deeply involved in the evaluation of new drugs and new targets in the treatment and the diagnosis of cancer.
He has been nominated in 1998 at the Educational Committee of ASCO and at the International Affairs Committee of ASCO in 2000. He is also Member of the Clinical Research Committee of the AACR.
He got the American Association for Cancer Research public service award in 2000 and he was selected to receive the research grant from the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation in 2000.

He is sitting in different French, European and International Committees. He is one of the member of the steering committee of the World Alliance of Cancer Research organizations and he is the associated Editor of the Journal of Clinical Oncology and Cancer. He is a member of several other editorial boards. He became Adjunct Professor of Medicine, department of breast diseases, at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, university of Texas in 2001.

He is professor emeritus of different institutions including the Suzhou institute for onco-hematology in China, the Matsumoto university in Japan. He is member of several scientific societies and member of the ASCO since 1987.

He is the advisor of the LEED program at the OECD.

He’s currently working, regarding basic research on predictive factors of response to immunotherapy in melanoma patients and, in the clinical field, in the development of phase I and Phase II studies testing in new agents in different tumors including breast, colorectal, lung cancers and melanoma.

He has published more than 500 papers in the field of oncology and clinical pharmacology.

He is chevalier of the national order of Merit, of the Legion of Honor, of the order of Sainte Agathe and the Academics Palms. He is the ambassador of the Republic of San Marino at UNESCO.

Since July 2002, he is member of the “war on cancer plan” of Jacques Chirac, President of France and since September 2002, the president of the high level bilateral committee for the Franco-Israeli cooperation.

Since april 2004, he is The President of Cancer National Institute.

He is married and has three daughters, Julie (20), Barbara (17), Cécile (13). His wife was formally pharmacist but now she is in an expert in history of art at the Louvre school in Paris.