Director, Comparative Oncology Program

Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute

National Institutes of Health

Dr. Amy LeBlanc a board-certified veterinary medical oncologist, clinical trialist, and translational researcher. She currently serves as Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Cancer Research’s Comparative Oncology Program (COP). Her research investigations have focused on improving drug and imaging agent development outcomes for humans with cancer primarily through clinical studies in of pet dogs with spontaneous malignancies. She directly oversees the NCI Comparative Oncology Trials Consortium (COTC), which provides infrastructure necessary to connect participating veterinary academic institutions with stakeholders in drug development to execute fit-for-purpose comparative clinical trials in novel therapeutics and imaging agents. Her program provides support to several extramural NCI-funded initiatives including the Integrated Canine Data Commons and Cancer Moonshot-funded canine immunotherapeutic clinical trials conducted under the PRECINCT network. Her lab is currently leading a comprehensive comparative genomic and pathologic assessment of the largest collection of canine osteosarcomas in existence to fully establish the genomic framework and translatability of the disease to humans. Her main goal is the identification and validation of prognostic biomarkers for patients through a variety of approaches, including AI/ML, that have translational relevance between canines and humans.