Lauren Byers

Dr. Lauren Averett Byers is Professor of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology and Thoracic Section Chief at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Her laboratory uses high-throughput molecular profiling to classify small cell lung cancer (SCLC) into distinct subtypes and to identify predictive biomarkers and new therapeutic targets, including DNA damage response proteins such as PARP1, CHK1 and WEE1. She has translated these findings into clinical trials of novel treatments for SCLC, including DLL3-targeted T-cell engager therapies and the first CAR T-cell therapy tested in SCLC patients.

She co-leads MD Anderson’s Lung Cancer Program and serves as co-principal investigator of the NIH/NCI Small Cell Lung Cancer Consortium Coordinating Center. Her contributions to SCLC research were cited by the NCI among the past decade’s most impactful cancer advances. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and received the 2025 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Medicine.