Kathryn Gold
· M.D.VerifiedUniversity of California, San Diego · Hematology and Medical Oncology
Active 1978–2026
About
Kathryn Gold is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSD, with her address listed at 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA. Her educational background includes an MD from Washington University of St Louis, a Medical Oncology Fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, an Internal Medicine Residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Duke University. Her research activities and funding focus on overcoming resistance to anti-EGFR therapy through drug repurposing, as evidenced by her role as Co-Principal Investigator on an NIH R01 grant. Her publication record includes contributions to clinical trials and research on various cancers, notably lung, head and neck, and oral precancer. Her work encompasses translational insights, clinical trial design, and the molecular and clinicopathologic characteristics of cancers, with a focus on targeted therapies and immunotherapy. She has been involved in studies on the efficacy and safety of novel therapeutics such as Patritumab Deruxtecan (HER3-DXd) and immune checkpoint inhibitors, as well as research on cancer microenvironment and genomic alterations. Her contributions extend to guidelines and frameworks for cancer care, including rapid trial start-up and COVID-19 pandemic recovery strategies.
Research topics
- Medicine
- Internal medicine
- Oncology
- Endocrinology
- Family medicine
- Intensive care medicine
Selected publications
Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network · 2026-03-27
articleSenior authorNCCN Guidelines® Insights: Small Cell Lung Cancer, Version 2.2026
Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network · 2026-01-01
articleThe NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Small Cell Lung Cancer provide recommendations for diagnostic workup, staging, and treatment. These NCCN Guidelines Insights highlight recent updates, with a particular focus on changes to systemic therapies and radiation treatment in the NCCN Guidelines for Small Cell Lung Cancer.
Journal of Clinical Oncology · 2025-06-24 · 11 citations
articleOpen accessPURPOSE Patritumab deruxtecan (HER3-DXd; MK-1022) is an investigational HER3-directed antibody-drug conjugate composed of a human immunoglobulin G1 monoclonal antibody to HER3 (patritumab) covalently linked via a stable tetrapeptide-based cleavable linker to a topoisomerase I inhibitor payload that has shown durable antitumor activity in previously treated patients with EGFR -mutated advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We extend these observations to patients with advanced NSCLC with other/no identified driver genomic alterations. METHODS Patients with advanced squamous or nonsquamous NSCLC without a common EGFR -activating mutation whose disease had progressed on previous therapies including platinum-based chemotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and targeted therapy (for patients with known actionable genomic alterations) received HER3-DXd 5.6 mg/kg intravenously once every 3 weeks. The primary end point was confirmed objective response rate (cORR). RESULTS Forty-seven patients were treated with HER3-DXd (median treatment duration, 4.2 [range, 0.7-19.8] months). The cORR was 27.7% (95% CI, 15.6% to 42.6%), and the median duration of response was 8.1 (95% CI, 4.2 to not evaluable) months. The median progression-free survival was 5.5 (95% CI, 4.0 to 11.2) months, and the median overall survival was 15.2 (95% CI, 10.8 to 17.7) months. Similar efficacy was observed in patients with NSCLC harboring identified driver genomic alterations and in those without such genomic features. The rate of study drug discontinuation associated with treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) was 12.8%. Study drug–related grade ≥3 TEAEs occurred in 51.1% of patients and were serious in 12.8% (none were associated with death). Adjudicated treatment-related interstitial lung disease occurred in five patients (10.6%; all grade 1 or 2). CONCLUSION The previously reported efficacy and safety of HER3-DXd in heavily pretreated patients with EGFR -mutated NSCLC are also observed in those with other NSCLC subtypes and warrant further clinical evaluation.
Journal of Thoracic Oncology · 2025-10-01
articleCancer Research · 2025-04-21
articleAbstract Introduction: While circulating tumor DNA-based tests have shown promise in evaluating treatment response, predicting prognosis, and detecting measurable residual disease, tumor-informed personalized strategies have limitations. For example, the need for large tumor samples and the complexity and high cost of personalized testing can be barriers to clinical use. Commercially available genomic and methylation tumor-independent assays require large panels and sample splitting, further limiting their practicality. Both these assays require samples to be sent to centralized CLIA-certified labs. To address these challenges, we explored the Agilent Avida target enrichment technology in a small sample of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This kit-based solution reduces sequencing costs, is compatible with automation systems like the Agilent Bravo NGS Workstation, and enables decentralized, faster molecular analysis. Methods: We applied the Agilent Avida circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) genomic alteration and methylation combined analysis for tumor-independent cancer monitoring in patients with NSCLC. First, we demonstrated the differential hypermethylation cancer-specific signal in 4 different lung cancer tumors, with low background noise in normal lung tissues, non-cancerous pathological lung tissue, control peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and cfDNA. We then showed feasibility of this cfDNA technology in patients with stage I through III NSCLC. In 4 patients with stage III NSCLC, plasma samples were collected before and 1-3 months after initiating immunotherapy treatment to assess whether the assays correlated with known clinical and imaging markers of disease response. Results: Using 1 mL of plasma from NSCLC patients, we detected cancer in 8 of 10 stage I patients and 10 of 11 stage II patients. Fifteen of 16 control samples were below the cutoff threshold. Among 4 patients with stage III NSCLC, we performed cfDNA Duo analysis, capturing both DNA mutations and methylation information from one input without sample splitting. The combined genomic and methylation analysis provided information on actionable mutations and tumor mutation burden for these patients. The overall methylation signal correlated with CT imaging-based tumor changes for most cases. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate the feasibility of the Agilent-Avida DNA/methylation DUO kit for tumor-independent cancer monitoring in patients with NSCLC undergoing immunotherapy treatment. Citation Format: Tali Azenkot, Grace Zhao, Heng Wang, Xiaomu Chen, Margherita Corioni, Michael Ruvolo, Teressa Celma, Jeff Pawelek, Aswati Aravind, Douglas Roberts, Yun Bao, Bram Herman, Annie Wu, William Mitchell, Kathryn Gold, Lyudmila Bazhenova, Shengrong Lin, Sandip Patel. A novel NGS-based assay in kit format for tumor-independent cancer monitoring, and evaluation of patient treatment response using cfDNA genomic alteration and methylation duo analysis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2025; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2025 Apr 25-30; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2025;85(8_Suppl_1):Abstract nr 5882.
Annals of Oncology · 2024-02-17 · 41 citations
articleOpen accessJournal of Clinical Oncology · 2024-06-01 · 1 citations
articleOpen accessSenior author11127 Background: Early documentation of physician-led goals of care (GOC) discussions is important to providing comprehensive and individualized quality care to cancer patients as it can provide all members of the patient care team with a context for the type of care each patient wishes to receive prior to and at end of life. The electronic medical record (EMR) should provide easy access to these conversations to seamlessly integrate outpatient, emergency room and inpatient care of cancer patients. Methods: The institution-wide initiative was introduced via presentations and emails between 8/2021 and 11/2021 to all Moores Cancer Center faculty at UC San Diego Health. A SmartPhrase was created in our EMR Epic as the intervention, including critical components of a GOC discussion: people present during discussion, goal of cancer-directed treatment, anticipated cancer trajectory shared with the patient, and patient’s health care agent. The SmartPhrase was radiolabeled to be easily searchable for any clinician accessing the patient’s chart. Physician documentation was tracked for the purposes of achieving a group goal with a target of greater than 50% documentation of GOC discussions within 30 days of the first day of the first cycle of chemotherapy. Prior to physician education, 4% of patients had a GOC note using a searchable SmartPhrase. In 12/2021, we began sending individual emails to physicians to remind them of eligible patients. Results: By 1/2022, after education, 50% of physicians ordering chemotherapy had used the GOC SmartPhrase and 29% of patients initiating chemotherapy had a GOC note using the SmartPhrase. After initiation of monthly reminder emails, documentation increased to 51% by 10/2022. An increased use of Advanced Care Planning billing codes was also noted. Conclusions: Implementation of an initiative to standardize electronic documentation of GOC conversations improved early documentation of these vital conversations. Radiolabeling of the SmartPhrase made it easily accessible to all members of a patient’s care team.
2023-04-03
preprintOpen access<div>Abstract<p>Receptor tyrosine-protein kinase ERBB3 (HER3) is expressed in most <i>EGFR</i>-mutated lung cancers but is not a known mechanism of resistance to EGFR inhibitors. HER3-DXd is an antibody–drug conjugate consisting of a HER3 antibody attached to a topoisomerase I inhibitor payload via a tetrapeptide-based cleavable linker. This phase I, dose escalation/expansion study included patients with locally advanced or metastatic <i>EGFR</i>-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with prior EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy. Among 57 patients receiving HER3-DXd 5.6 mg/kg intravenously once every 3 weeks, the confirmed objective response rate by blinded independent central review (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors v1.1) was 39% [95% confidence interval (CI), 26.0–52.4], and median progression-free survival was 8.2 (95% CI, 4.4–8.3) months. Responses were observed in patients with known and unknown EGFR TKI resistance mechanisms. Clinical activity was observed across a broad range of HER3 membrane expression. The most common grade ≥3 treatment-emergent adverse events were hematologic toxicities. HER3-DXd has clinical activity in EGFR TKI–resistant cancers independent of resistance mechanisms, providing an approach to treat a broad range of drug-resistant cancers.</p>Significance:<p>In metastatic <i>EGFR</i>-mutated NSCLC, after disease progression on EGFR TKI therapy, treatment approaches include genotype-directed therapy targeting a known resistance mechanism or chemotherapy. HER3-DXd demonstrated clinical activity spanning known and unknown EGFR TKI resistance mechanisms. HER3-DXd could present a future treatment option agnostic to the EGFR TKI resistance mechanism.</p><p><i>See related commentary by Lim et al., p. 16</i>.</p><p><i>This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1</i></p></div>
The UC san diego health suspicion of cancer clinic.
Journal of Clinical Oncology · 2023-06-01
articleSenior authore18528 Background: Physicians at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center (MCC), like at many major cancer centers in the United States, are subspecialized by tumor type. Patients with symptoms concerning for cancer, but without a diagnosis, often face challenges in establishing care with an oncologist, which can potentially lead to delays in diagnosis and treatment. Methods: At our institution, we created a Suspicion of Cancer (SOC) clinic for referral of patients who have symptoms concerning for cancer, but without a definitive diagnosis of malignancy. The purpose of the clinic is to facilitate establishment of a diagnosis and access to an oncologist in a timely manner. We created an order for referral in our electronic medical record system that enables any provider to refer to patients to the SOC clinic. Once a referral is placed, a hematologist-oncologist or medical oncologist reviews the case and approves the patient for an appointment with the SOC clinic. Results: Between January 2022 and November 2022, we received 107 unique referrals to the SOC clinic. The average age of referred patients was 64 years, with 50 (46.7%) females and 57 (53.3%) males. Thirty-four (31.2%) referrals were from primary care doctors, 23 (21.5%) from hospital medicine, 22 (20.6%) from emergency medicine, 15 (14.0%) from medical subspecialties or neurology, 11 (10.3%) from surgery or surgical subspecialties, and 1 (0.93%) that was self-referred. Thirty (28.0%) patients already had definitive diagnosis of malignancy from either our institution or an outside institution, while 77 (72.0%) did not have a diagnosis at time of referral. Of the 107 referrals, 21 (19.6%) did not follow up with a medical oncologist or hematologist-oncologist within our health system. Reasons for not following up included insurance status, establishing care elsewhere, failed attempts to contact patients, or no shows to established clinic appointments. One patient was already established with a hematologist-oncologist within the MCC prior to referral. Eighty-six (80.4%) patients were seen in new consultation by a medical oncologist or hematologist-oncologist at our institution. After referral, the average time to consultation with a medical oncologist or a hematologist-oncologist was 15.3 days. In the 77 cases without diagnosis at time of referral, 39 (50.6%) underwent biopsy, while 38 (49.4%) were deemed to not require biopsy or declined biopsy. Twenty-five (32.5%) patients were diagnosed with cancer and 52 (67.5%) either did not have biopsy or had a negative biopsy. Ninety-two (86.0%) of the 107 referred patients were alive at time of analysis, while 15 (14.0%) were deceased. Conclusions: The MCC SOC clinic offers a referral pathway to expedite diagnosis and access to care for new oncology patients. In continuing to collect data related to the above outcomes, we hope to identify barriers to the delivery of oncologic care and improve patient outcomes.
2023-04-03
preprintOpen access<div>Abstract<p>Receptor tyrosine-protein kinase ERBB3 (HER3) is expressed in most <i>EGFR</i>-mutated lung cancers but is not a known mechanism of resistance to EGFR inhibitors. HER3-DXd is an antibody–drug conjugate consisting of a HER3 antibody attached to a topoisomerase I inhibitor payload via a tetrapeptide-based cleavable linker. This phase I, dose escalation/expansion study included patients with locally advanced or metastatic <i>EGFR</i>-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with prior EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy. Among 57 patients receiving HER3-DXd 5.6 mg/kg intravenously once every 3 weeks, the confirmed objective response rate by blinded independent central review (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors v1.1) was 39% [95% confidence interval (CI), 26.0–52.4], and median progression-free survival was 8.2 (95% CI, 4.4–8.3) months. Responses were observed in patients with known and unknown EGFR TKI resistance mechanisms. Clinical activity was observed across a broad range of HER3 membrane expression. The most common grade ≥3 treatment-emergent adverse events were hematologic toxicities. HER3-DXd has clinical activity in EGFR TKI–resistant cancers independent of resistance mechanisms, providing an approach to treat a broad range of drug-resistant cancers.</p>Significance:<p>In metastatic <i>EGFR</i>-mutated NSCLC, after disease progression on EGFR TKI therapy, treatment approaches include genotype-directed therapy targeting a known resistance mechanism or chemotherapy. HER3-DXd demonstrated clinical activity spanning known and unknown EGFR TKI resistance mechanisms. HER3-DXd could present a future treatment option agnostic to the EGFR TKI resistance mechanism.</p><p><i>See related commentary by Lim et al., p. 16</i>.</p><p><i>This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1</i></p></div>
Recent grants
NIH · $40.3M · 1996–2031
NIH · $2.6M · 2021
Frequent coauthors
- 51 shared
Edward S. Kim
- 48 shared
Ignacio I. Wistuba
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- 37 shared
Stephen G. Swisher
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- 35 shared
Waun Ki Hong
- 32 shared
Wayne L. Hofstetter
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- 31 shared
J. Jack Lee
- 31 shared
John V. Heymach
- 31 shared
Carmen Behrens
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Education
- 1994
Ph.D., Microbiology and Immunology
University of California, San Diego
- 1989
M.S., Microbiology and Immunology
University of California, San Diego
- 1987
B.S., Microbiology and Immunology
University of California, San Diego
- Resume-aware match score
- Save to shortlist
- AI-drafted outreach
See your match with Kathryn Gold
PhdFit ranks faculty by your research interests, methods, and publications — grounded in their actual work, not templates.
- Free to start
- No credit card
- 30-second signup