About

Michael Mulcahy is a distinguished trombone player and educator with a background that includes extensive international performance and teaching experience. He has appeared as a soloist and teacher across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Japan, China, Argentina, New Zealand, and Australia. His notable performances include appearances as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Pierre Boulez in music of Elliot Carter, and with Daniel Barenboim in Leopold Mozart’s Concerto for Alto Trombone. He has also performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Hilversum Radio Symphony Orchestra, and on tour with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In October 2016, he gave the world premiere of Five Hallucinations by Carl Vine, a solo concerto co-commissioned by the Chicago Symphony and the Sydney Symphony. In 2018, he was featured in the world premiere of the Low Brass Concerto of Jennifer Higdon with the Chicago Symphony and Riccardo Muti. Mulcahy is the winner of several international competitions, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Instrumental Competition, the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the Viotti International Competition in Italy, and the International Instrumental Competition in Markneukirchen. Appointed by Sir Georg Solti, he joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1989 and has served as Principal Trombone with various orchestras, including the Music of the Baroque and the Grand Teton Music Festival. His orchestral career began in 1976 as Principal Trombone of the Tasmanian Symphony, followed by positions with the Melbourne Symphony and Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra. Currently, he is Principal Trombone of the Australian World Orchestra. Beyond performance, Mulcahy has a strong interest in conducting, having directed concerts of Arvo Pärt’s music and served as Director of the CSO BRASS. He conducts regularly for the Grand Teton Music Festival and guest conducts for several orchestras. He has held academic positions, including Senior Lecturer at the Canberra School of Music and since 1999, leading the trombone studio at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. He is also a Visiting Artist at the Australian National Academy of Music and has been an Artist in Residence at Indiana University and a Wiley Housewright Scholar at Florida State University. Mulcahy has taught and conducted at Daniel Barenboim’s East West Divan workshop for young Arab and Israeli musicians and leads a Summer Trombone Performance Master Class at Northwestern University every July.

Research topics

• Internal medicine
• Medicine
• Oncology
• Intensive care medicine
• General surgery
• Family medicine

Selected publications

• A phase Ib/II study of zanzalintinib (XL092) in second line and beyond for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

  Journal of Clinical Oncology · 2026-01-10

  article

  TPS615 Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for 75–85% of primary liver cancers and is responsible for approximately 7.8% of all cancer-related deaths, ranking third among causes of cancer mortality worldwide. Most patients are diagnosed with advanced-stage disease. Following recent randomized controlled trials, immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-based regimens have replaced tyrosine kinase inhibitors as the standard first-line treatment. However, evidence guiding treatment after progression on first-line systemic therapy remains limited, and no approved second-line options exist for patients with advanced HCC. Zanzalintinib (XL092) is a novel, potent, orally bioavailable small-molecule inhibitor that targets multiple receptor kinases, including MET, VEGFR2, AXL, and MER. It is currently under investigation in early-phase and phase III trials across several malignancies, such as colorectal cancer, non–clear cell renal cell carcinoma, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and advanced neuroendocrine tumors. Safety data to date suggest that XL092 is well tolerated at a 100 mg daily dose, and preliminary exposure–response analyses indicate no significant difference in efficacy between the 60 mg and 100 mg dose levels. Methods: Eligible patients must have advanced HCC with objective radiographic progression on or after first- or second-line systemic therapy. Key inclusion criteria include measurable disease by RECIST v1.1, Child-Pugh Class A or B (B7–B8) cirrhosis, ECOG performance status 0–1, and adequate organ and marrow function. Prior cabozantinib exposure is an exclusion criterion. Patients will be stratified into two cohorts by liver function: Cohort 1 (Child-Pugh A) and Cohort 2 (Child-Pugh B7–B8). Phase Ib will assess safety, tolerability, and dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) of Zanzalintinib, and define the recommended phase II dose (RP2D) using a standard 3+3 design at 40 mg and 60 mg daily. Up to 30 patients may be enrolled in the safety lead-in. In Phase II, Cohort 1 (historical median PFS 3.5 months, target 6 months; 80% power, 1-sided α=0.1) will enroll 20 evaluable patients. Cohort 2 (median PFS 1.8 months, target 3.6 months; 80% power, 1-sided α=0.1) will enroll 13 evaluable patients. Efficacy analyses will use a one-sample log-rank test, assuming an exponential survival distribution. Clinical trial information: NCT07042919 .

  PublisherDOI

• Multi-center NCI-sponsored phase 1 study of triapine in combination with 177Lu-dotatate in patients with progressive well-differentiated gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs)

  Endocrine Abstracts · 2026-03-04

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Streamlining Acute Care for Patients with Gynecologic Cancers: A Comparative Study of Oncology Urgent Care and Emergency Department Visits

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Preliminary results from the randomized phase 2 study (1801 part 3B) of elraglusib in combination with gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel (GnP) versus GnP alone in patients (pts) with previously untreated metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC).

  Journal of Clinical Oncology · 2025-05-28 · 5 citations

  article

  4006 Background: Elraglusib (9-ING-41) is a first-in-class inhibitor of GSK-3ß, which may mediate drug resistance, EMT, and damaged DNA and tumor immune response in advanced cancer. In pancreatic cancer models in mice, elraglusib combined with chemotherapy enhanced anti-tumor effects and survival. In a single-arm clinical study, elraglusib/GnP showed antitumor activity and prolonged survival in pts with mPDAC. Methods: Pts with previously untreated mPDAC were randomized 2:1 to GnP plus elraglusib 9.3 mg/kg IV once weekly or GnP in an open-label phase 2 study. The primary endpoint was 1-yr OS in the primary analysis set. Upon study completion, mOS will be the primary endpoint once survival distributions are compared after the 12-month follow-up using log-rank analysis. Secondary endpoints included DCR, ORR, mPFS, and TEAEs/TRAEs. The planned sample size was 207 evaluable pts (130 for elraglusib/GnP and 77 for GnP), assuming 1-yr OS of 55% with elraglusib/GnP and 35% with GnP to achieve 80% power with a chi-square test at a 2-sided 5% α. For OS, nonparametric log-rank test was used with statistical significance at p-value < 0.048. Cytokine/chemokine correlative biomarker assays were performed. The study completed enrollment in February 2024. Results: As of November 15, 2024 (preliminary data cut-off date), the primary analysis set included 155 pts in the elraglusib/GnP arm and 78 pts in the GnP arm, with 52.8% males and 57.5% ECOG PS 1. Median (range) CA 19-9 levels were 1568 U/mL (1 to 381,904 U/mL) in the elraglusib/GnP arm and 1590 U/mL (2 to 501,000 IU/mL) in the GnP arm. The 1-yr OS rate was 43.6% with elraglusib/GnP vs 22.5% with GnP (z-test p = 0.002); the mOS was 9.3 mo with elraglusib/GnP vs 7.2 mo with GnP (HR, 0.63; log rank p = 0.016; see Table). 38.1% of pts on elraglusib/GnP and 19.2% on GnP are censored, with the majority at > 10 months OS. Several biomarkers appear to be predictive for OS including IFNβ and PD-L1. The most common TRAE with elraglusib/GnP was grade 1-2 transient visual impairment in > 60% of patients (vs 9% with GnP). Grade ≥3 TEAEs occurred in 89.7% of pts on elraglusib/GnP and 80.8% on GnP. Most common grade ≥3 TEAEs with elraglusib/GnP (vs GnP) were neutropenia 51.6% (vs 29.5%), anemia 24.5% (vs 29.5%), and fatigue 16.1% (vs 5.1%). Conclusions: The preliminary results showed a statistically significant benefit for 1-yr OS and mOS and favorable trends for ORR and DCR with elraglusib/GnP over GnP, with manageable safety profile. The mOS for GnP is lower relative to MPACT and NAPOLI-3 but comparable to recent real-world meta-analyses, explained by advanced disease burden and higher mortality rate in the first 4 months in our study. Topline analysis (April 2025) and correlative biomarker analysis predictive for OS will be presented. Clinical trial information: NCT03678883 . Preliminary efficacy results. Elraglusib/GnPn=155 GnPn=78 1-year OS, %z-test p=0.002 43.6 22.5 mOS, moHR=0.63; log-rank p=0.016 9.3 7.2 Events, n (%) 96 (61.9) 63 (80.8) mPFS, moHR=0.91; p=NS 5.6 4.9 Events, n (%) 128 (82.6) 70 (89.7) DCR, % 42.6 33.3 ORR, n (%) 43 (27.7) 16 (20.5)

  PublisherDOI

• Streamlining acute care for patients with gynecologic cancers: A comparative study of oncology urgent care and emergency department visits

  Gynecologic Oncology · 2025-09-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Intergroup randomized phase III study of adjuvant FOLFIRI, FOLFOX, or 5-FU/leucovorin for stage II/III rectal cancer: ECOG-ACRIN E3201

  The Oncologist · 2025-12-13

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Adjuvant 5-FU monotherapy was previously the standard treatment for stage II/III rectal cancer. This study compared adjuvant FOLFIRI, FOLFOX, and 5-FU/LV. METHODS: Eligible patients had T3-T4 N0 or Tany N1-3 rectal adenocarcinoma ≤12 cm from the anal verge and received pre-operative or postoperative 5-FU chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Patients were randomized to adjuvant FOLFIRI (8 cycles), FOLFOX (8 cycles), or 5-FU/LV weekly (6/8 weeks; 3 cycles). The trial planned to enroll 3,150 patients but was closed early following activation of an alternative adjuvant rectal cancer study including bevacizumab (E5204). The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS); secondary endpoints included disease-free survival (DFS), sphincter preservation, tolerability, and quality of life (QOL). RESULTS: The trial enrolled 225 patients (179 randomized) before early closure. Grade 3/4 toxicity occurred in 59%, with neutropenia, leukopenia, and diarrhea being the most common. At a median follow-up of 9.7 years, no significant OS or DFS differences were observed. The rate of sphincter preservation was numerically higher with FOLFIRI and FOLFOX versus 5-FU/LV, but the difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: FOLFOX and FOLFIRI can be safely administered after CRT in rectal cancer patients safely with expected toxicities. Due to early trial closure and small sample size, the survival analysis was underpowered to detect a significant difference between regimens. CLINICALTRIALS.GOV IDENTIFIER: NCT00068692.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Delta Radiomics and Tumor Size: A New Predictive Radiomics Model for Chemotherapy Response in Liver Metastases from Breast and Colorectal Cancer

  Tomography · 2025-02-20 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  Background/Objectives: Radiomic features exhibit a correlation with tumor size on pretreatment images. However, on post-treatment images, this association is influenced by treatment efficacy and varies between responders and non-responders. This study introduces a novel model, called baseline-referenced Delta radiomics, which integrates the association between radiomic features and tumor size into Delta radiomics to predict chemotherapy response in liver metastases from breast cancer (BC) and colorectal cancer (CRC). Materials and Methods: A retrospective study analyzed contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scans of 83 BC patients and 84 CRC patients. Among these, 57 BC patients with 106 liver lesions and 37 CRC patients with 109 lesions underwent post-treatment imaging after systemic chemotherapy. Radiomic features were extracted from up to three lesions per patient following manual segmentation. Tumor response was assessed by measuring the longest diameter and classified according to RECIST 1.1 criteria as progressive disease (PD), partial response (PR), or stable disease (SD). Classification models were developed to predict chemotherapy response using pretreatment data only, Delta radiomics, and baseline-referenced Delta radiomics. Model performance was evaluated using confusion matrix metrics. Results: Baseline-referenced Delta radiomics performed comparably or better than established radiomics models in predicting tumor response in chemotherapy-treated patients with liver metastases. The sensitivity, specificity, and balanced accuracy in predicting response ranged from 0.66 to 0.97, 0.81 to 0.97, and 80% to 90%, respectively. Conclusions: By integrating the relationship between radiomic features and tumor size into Delta radiomics, baseline-referenced Delta radiomics offers a promising approach for predicting chemotherapy response in liver metastases from breast and colorectal cancer.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Phase II trial of enfortumab vedotin in patients with previously treated gastric and esophageal cancers

  ESMO Open · 2025-10-23 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Enfortumab vedotin (EV), a Nectin-4-directed antibody-drug conjugate, was evaluated in patients with solid tumors in EV-202 (NCT04225117), a multicohort, open-label, phase II study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA) or esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cohorts from EV-202 included adults with predominantly heavily pretreated locally advanced or metastatic (la/m) GEA or ESCC, respectively. Patients received EV 1.25 mg/kg intravenously on days 1, 8, and 15 of each 28-day cycle. The primary endpoint was investigator-assessed confirmed objective response rate (ORR) per RECIST v1.1. Secondary endpoints included duration of response (DOR), disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and safety. Of 40 response-assessable patients, ≥7 (≥17.5%) per cohort were required to declare promising antitumor activity. RESULTS: In the GEA cohort, 42 patients (71.4% male; median age 62 years) received EV (median follow-up 11.1 months). Confirmed ORR and DCR were 9.5% and 47.6%, respectively. Median DOR, PFS, and OS were 10.3, 3.1, and 8.3 months, respectively. The most common all-grade treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were pruritus (n = 16, 38.1%), alopecia (n = 15, 35.7%), and dysgeusia (n = 13, 31.0%). Twelve patients (28.6%) experienced grade ≥3 TRAEs. In the ESCC cohort, 44 patients (81.8% male; median age 66 years) received EV (median follow-up not estimable). Confirmed ORR and DCR were 18.2% and 45.5%, respectively. Median DOR, PFS, and OS were 3.9, 2.1, and 7.4 months, respectively. The most common all-grade TRAEs were pruritus (n = 12, 27.3%), rash maculopapular (n = 12, 27.3%), and dysgeusia (n = 11, 25.0%). Twelve patients (27.3%) experienced grade ≥3 TRAEs. CONCLUSIONS: EV demonstrated antitumor activity in patients with predominantly heavily pretreated la/m GEA or ESCC. The predefined threshold for promising antitumor activity was met in patients with ESCC but not in those with GEA. Safety was manageable and consistent with previous reports.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Gastric Cancer, Version 2.2025, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines In Oncology

  Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network · 2025-05-01 · 123 citations

  article

  Gastric cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Over 95% of gastric cancers are adenocarcinomas, which are typically classified based on anatomic location and histologic type. Gastric cancer generally carries a poor prognosis because it is often diagnosed at an advanced stage. Systemic therapy can provide palliation, improve survival, and enhance the quality of life in patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease. The implementation of biomarker testing has had a significant impact on clinical practice and patient care. Targeted therapies have demonstrated encouraging results in clinical trials for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease. This selection from the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Gastric Cancer highlights recommendations for biomarker testing and discusses updates for the treatment of advanced disease, including peritoneal carcinoma as only disease and unresectable locally advanced, recurrent, or metastatic disease.

  PublisherDOI

• 1709MO Multi-center NCI-sponsored phase I study of triapine in combination with 177Lu-dotatate in patients with well-differentiated gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (GEP-NETs)

  Annals of Oncology · 2025-09-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Al B. Benson

  Northwestern University

  267 shared

• Hedy L. Kindler

  University of Chicago

  205 shared

• Riad Salem

  Northwestern University

  185 shared

• Donna Niedzwiecki

  Duke University

  173 shared

• Eileen M. O’Reilly

  Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

  157 shared

• Federico Innocenti

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  157 shared

• Robert J. Lewandowski

  Northwestern University

  150 shared

• Alan P. Venook

  145 shared

Education

• B.S., Music

  Australian National University

  1987

• M.A., Trombone Performance

  Northwestern University

  1999