Roel Verhaak

Roel Verhaak, PhD, is the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery at Yale School of Medicine, where he leads a research laboratory focused on brain tumor biology and cancer genomics. He joined Yale in 2023 after previously being affiliated with the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine (2016-2023) and MD Anderson Cancer Center (2010-2016).

Dr. Verhaak's research focuses on understanding tumor evolution and mechanisms of therapy resistance in gliomas, with particular emphasis on extrachromosomal DNA amplifications. He is a founding member of the Glioma Longitudinal Analysis Consortium (GLASS), which has established a significant resource of molecular profiles collected over time from glioma patients.

His laboratory employs high-throughput sequencing, computational analysis, and functional studies to investigate how cancer cells evolve during disease progression and in response to therapy. Recent work has focused on characterizing extrachromosomal DNA as a critical driver of oncogene amplification and tumor heterogeneity in glioblastoma and other cancers.

Dr. Verhaak has published extensively in top-tier journals including Nature, Cell, and Nature Genetics, with his research revealing fundamental insights into glioma biology, tumor evolution mechanisms, and potential therapeutic targets. His work has established extrachromosomal DNA as a major factor in cancer progression and treatment resistance.

• AAAS Martin and Rose Wachtel Cancer Research Award (2016)
• Adult Basic Science Award (2014)
• Peter Steck Memorial Award (2012)
• Wilson S. Stone Memorial Award (2011)

Dr. Verhaak has mentored numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, contributing to the training of the next generation of cancer researchers. His laboratory maintains active collaborations with multiple institutions through the GLASS Consortium and other research networks.