Mary-Ellen Taplin, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Boston, Massachusetts

Mary-Ellen Taplin, MD, is the Chair of the Executive Committee for Clinical Research in the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts. In her role as Chair of the Executive Committee Clinical Research, Dr. Taplin oversees DFCI clinical research operations and mentors DFCI investigators in the development of trials that have the potential to improve outcomes for cancer patients. Her research in prostate cancer has focused on androgen receptor changes in the evolution of hormone-refractory prostate cancer and clinical trials of novel hormone therapy and chemotherapy with correlative molecular endpoints.

Dr. Taplin earned her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts in Worcester. She completed a residency in Internal Medicine, serving as Chief Resident, at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Dr. Taplin then completed a fellowship in Hematology-Oncology at Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. Before joining the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Taplin served as an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts.

Dr. Taplin’s background includes comprehensive training in clinical practice, clinical trials, and correlative tumor analyses. As an academic Genitourinary Oncologist, her research interests are concentrated on prostate cancer. She has focused on molecular analyses of androgen receptor (AR) and AR signaling in both localized high-risk and castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Dr. Taplin created a valuable tumor bank of prostate cancer metastasis biopsies at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is the DFCI site lead for the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium. She co-led the DFCI Stand Up to Cancer prostate cancer dream team that discovered the importance of mutations in DNA repair pathway genes in prostate cancer. Dr. Taplin has been awarded several Prostate Cancer Foundation challenge grants for her work. She is currently the primary investigator of many trials, including PROTEUS, a phase 3 trial evaluating the intensity of androgen deprivation therapy in localized high-risk prostate cancer and trials evaluating EZH2 inhibitors and novel AR antagonists in metastatic CRPC.