Draft:Omid Hamid
American medical oncologist and cancer immunotherapy researcher
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Omid Hamid, MD is an American medical oncologist and clinical researcher specializing in cutaneous malignancies and cancer immunotherapy. He serves as Chief of Translational Research and Immuno-Oncology and Director of the Cutaneous Oncology and Phase 1 Programs at The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute, an affiliate of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, where he also holds the academic title of Professor of Medicine. Hamid is recognized internationally as a key opinion leader in immuno-oncologic drug development and melanoma therapeutics, having served as a principal or co-investigator on the inaugural clinical trials of several agents that fundamentally transformed the treatment of advanced melanoma, including pembrolizumab (Keytruda), ipilimumab (Yervoy), nivolumab (Opdivo), vemurafenib (Zelboraf), and lifileucel (Amtagvi). He is credited as the lead author on the first published clinical data for the compound that became pembrolizumab — now one of the most widely used cancer immunotherapies in history and among the best-selling drugs in the world. In February 2024, he served as a principal investigator on the pivotal C-144-01 trial that supported the FDA's accelerated approval of lifileucel, the first cellular therapy approved for any solid tumor in the United States. With more than 573 indexed publications and over 80,000 scholarly citations, Hamid is among the most prolific physician-scientists in the field of oncologic immunotherapy. He received his medical degree from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and completed his oncology fellowship at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. He speaks English, Farsi, and Spanish.
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Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest guideline, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. LAOncCare (talk) 01:10, 27 April 2026 (UTC)
Omid Hamid | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1973 (age 52–53) Iran |
| Education | University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine (MD, 1999) |
| Known for | Lead authorship of first published clinical data on pembrolizumab; principal investigator on pivotal lifileucel trial; contributions to melanoma immunotherapy |
Board member of | American Board of Internal Medicine (Medical Oncology) |
| Medical career | |
| Institutions | The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center affiliate), Los Angeles, California |
| Website | theangelesclinic |
Background and education
Hamid received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in 1999. He completed both his internship and residency in internal medicine at Los Angeles County Hospital/USC Medical Center, followed by a fellowship in oncology at Los Angeles County Hospital/USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, completed in 2005. He is board-certified in medical oncology by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM).[1] He speaks English, Farsi, and Spanish, reflecting a multilingual clinical practice serving Los Angeles's diverse patient population.[2]
Among his formative professional mentors, Hamid has credited Jeffrey Weber, MD, PhD, a leading figure in melanoma research, as central to his intellectual development as a clinical trialist. In interviews, Hamid has described a trajectory from student to apprentice to colleague at major international oncology symposia, characterizing the global melanoma research community as a defining collegial environment in his professional life.[3]
Career and institutional roles
Hamid has spent the entirety of his post-fellowship career at The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute, a freestanding oncology clinic and research institute in Los Angeles that became an affiliate of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Within that institution, he has held progressively senior roles, ultimately reaching his current positions as Chief of Translational Research and Immuno-Oncology and Director of the Cutaneous Oncology and Phase 1 Programs. He also serves as Director of the Melanoma Center and the Phase I Immuno-Oncology Program. Concurrently, he holds a faculty appointment as Professor of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai.[4]
As director of the Phase I Developmental Therapeutics Program, Hamid oversees the introduction of investigational oncology agents into first-in-human and early-phase clinical settings. The Angeles Clinic has been repeatedly audited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in connection with drug approvals — a consequence of its role as a principal trial site — and each audit has confirmed the integrity of the clinic's trial conduct and data quality. Multiple drug approvals have resulted from trials conducted under his leadership.[3]
His clinical expertise encompasses melanoma (cutaneous, mucosal, acral, and uveal subtypes), Merkel cell carcinoma, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, and immunotherapy-based treatment across multiple solid tumor types.
Research and clinical contributions
Hamid's research career has spanned the transformation of oncology from a field dominated by cytotoxic chemotherapy to one defined by molecularly targeted agents and immune checkpoint inhibition. His clinical trial work has directly contributed to the regulatory approvals of several landmark cancer therapies. He has published extensively in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, The Lancet Oncology, Annals of Oncology, and Clinical Cancer Research, and has presented at major international congresses including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) congress, and the Society for Melanoma Research annual meeting.
Checkpoint inhibitor development: pembrolizumab
Hamid is most prominently associated with the early clinical development of pembrolizumab (Keytruda), now the world's top-selling oncology drug. He served as lead investigator on the first trial to publish clinical data on the compound then known as MK-3475 (later lambrolizumab, then pembrolizumab), reporting safety and tumor responses in advanced melanoma in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2013.[5] That paper established the foundational clinical profile of anti-PD-1 blockade in melanoma and set the stage for pembrolizumab's global regulatory approval.
Hamid was a co-investigator on the large phase Ib KEYNOTE-001 trial (NCT01295827), which enrolled 655 patients with advanced melanoma and provided pivotal data supporting pembrolizumab's initial FDA approval. The five-year follow-up of KEYNOTE-001, published in Annals of Oncology in 2019 with Hamid as lead author, reported a 5-year overall survival (OS) rate of 34% in all patients and 41% in treatment-naive patients — representing the longest durability data for pembrolizumab in melanoma at the time of publication. Median response duration was not reached, with 73% of all responses ongoing at the data cutoff.[6]
As a co-investigator on the phase III KEYNOTE-006 trial, Hamid contributed to the definitive demonstration that pembrolizumab was superior to ipilimumab in frontline advanced melanoma. The primary analysis, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2015, showed response rates of approximately 33% for pembrolizumab versus 12% for ipilimumab, with significantly improved progression-free survival and overall survival and lower rates of high-grade toxicity.[7] The seven-year follow-up analysis, co-authored by Hamid and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2023, documented a median OS of 32.7 months with pembrolizumab versus 15.9 months with ipilimumab — one of the most durable survival datasets in advanced solid tumor oncology.[8]
He also led a post-hoc analysis of KEYNOTE-001 and KEYNOTE-006 examining the long-term prognosis of patients with initial stable disease on pembrolizumab, published in European Journal of Cancer in 2021, which demonstrated that 46.7% of patients with stable disease at week 12 subsequently achieved an objective response, with 48-month OS rates of 72.1% for those who converted from stable disease to response.[9]
Checkpoint inhibitor development: anti-CTLA-4 and PD-L1
Preceding his pembrolizumab work, Hamid was an investigator in early-phase trials of ipilimumab (Yervoy), the anti-CTLA-4 agent that became the first checkpoint inhibitor approved for melanoma. He co-authored a phase II trial of ipilimumab specifically in patients with melanoma brain metastases published in Lancet Oncology in 2012, one of the first prospective studies to demonstrate that intracranial disease could respond to checkpoint blockade.[10] He also participated in the foundational phase I safety study of anti-PD-L1 blockade across multiple advanced cancer types published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2012, which provided early evidence for the broad utility of PD pathway blockade beyond melanoma.[11]
Targeted therapy: BRAF/MEK inhibitors
In parallel with immunotherapy, Hamid has contributed to the development of BRAF and MEK inhibitors for BRAF-mutant melanoma. He participated in early-phase trials of vemurafenib, a BRAF V600E inhibitor, as well as dabrafenib and combination BRAF/MEK regimens. He has also participated in KEYNOTE-022, a trial examining pembrolizumab in combination with trametinib in BRAF wild-type melanoma and advanced solid tumors.[12] He has advocated for routine next-generation sequencing at diagnosis to identify BRAF fusions, NRAS mutations, and other potentially actionable variants in patients not candidates for standard BRAF/MEK inhibition.
Melanoma brain metastases
A distinct research thread in Hamid's career concerns immunotherapy in melanoma metastatic to the brain, historically among the most lethal manifestations of advanced disease. Beyond his 2012 ipilimumab brain metastasis trial, Hamid participated as a co-investigator in CheckMate 204 (NCT02320058), a phase II trial of combined nivolumab plus ipilimumab in patients with active melanoma brain metastases published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2018.[13] Three-year final follow-up data published in Lancet Oncology in 2022 demonstrated durable intracranial responses in asymptomatic patients and helped establish combination checkpoint therapy as the standard of care for untreated melanoma brain metastases.[14]
Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy
Hamid has been a senior investigator and prominent advocate for tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL)-based therapy, particularly lifileucel (brand name: Amtagvi), developed by Iovance Biotherapeutics. He served as a principal investigator on the pivotal phase II C-144-01 trial (NCT02360579), which supported the FDA's February 2024 accelerated approval of lifileucel — making it the first cellular therapy approved for any solid tumor in the United States.[15] In the pivotal efficacy cohort of 73 patients enrolled in cohort 4 of C-144-01, lifileucel produced an objective response rate (ORR) of 31.5%, comprising 4.1% complete responses and 27.4% partial responses, in patients with heavily pretreated advanced melanoma who had progressed on anti-PD-1 therapy.[16]
The 5-year follow-up of the pooled C-144-01 cohorts (n=153), published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2025, confirmed a median duration of response of 36.5 months and found 31.3% of responders with ongoing responses at the 5-year mark.[17] Hamid has also been named as a co-investigator on the phase III TILVANCE-301 trial (NCT05727904) of lifileucel plus pembrolizumab versus pembrolizumab monotherapy in treatment-naive advanced melanoma.
In the C-144-01 mucosal melanoma subgroup (n=12), lifileucel achieved a 50% ORR — a notable result given mucosal melanoma's low tumor mutational burden and historically poor immunotherapy response rate. Hamid has highlighted this finding as evidence that TIL therapy can be effective in checkpoint inhibitor-resistant and low-TMB disease contexts.[18]
LAG-3 inhibition: fianlimab
Hamid has been involved in the clinical development of fianlimab, a fully human monoclonal antibody targeting lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG-3), in combination with cemiplimab (anti-PD-1) for advanced melanoma. He co-authored subgroup analyses from a phase I study of this combination, including analyses in patients who had received prior adjuvant PD-1 inhibitor therapy — a clinically challenging population with limited post-adjuvant treatment options.[19]
Tebentafusp and rare melanoma subtypes
Hamid has directed research attention toward melanoma subtypes underserved by standard checkpoint immunotherapy, including uveal (ocular), mucosal, and acral melanoma. He was an investigator in the program for tebentafusp (Kimmtrak), a T-cell receptor bispecific molecule targeting glycoprotein 100 (gp100) and CD3, which received FDA approval in 2022 for HLA-A*02:01-positive patients with unresectable or metastatic uveal melanoma. He participated in the phase I study of tebentafusp in combination with durvalumab and/or tremelimumab in metastatic cutaneous melanoma, published in 2023.[20]
Merkel cell carcinoma
Beyond melanoma, Hamid has contributed to the clinical literature on Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a rare and aggressive neuroendocrine skin cancer. He was a co-investigator on the JAVELIN Merkel 200 trial of avelumab (anti-PD-L1) in previously treated metastatic MCC, with five-year follow-up data published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer in 2021.[21]
Biomarker research
Alongside drug development, Hamid has contributed to research on predictive and prognostic biomarkers for immunotherapy response, including PD-L1 expression, tumor mutational burden (TMB), circulating immune cell phenotypes, and microbiome analysis. He has co-authored work on SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine-induced humoral immune responses in cancer patients receiving systemic therapy, reflecting the clinical questions arising from the intersection of immunotherapy and infectious disease.[22]
Immune-related adverse event management
Hamid has been a prominent voice on the management of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) arising from checkpoint inhibitor therapy, characterizing the melanoma field as having led the approach to toxicity management that other tumor-type communities have since adopted. He has discussed the management of irAEs in patients with pre-existing autoimmune conditions and transplant recipients, and has collaborated on multidisciplinary clinical guidance with advanced practice providers at The Angeles Clinic.[3]
Selected publications
| Year | Title | Journal | PMID | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Safety and activity of anti-PD-L1 antibody in patients with advanced cancer | New England Journal of Medicine | 22658128 | Co-investigator; foundational PD-L1 data across tumor types |
| 2012 | Ipilimumab in patients with melanoma and brain metastases: an open-label, phase 2 trial | The Lancet Oncology | 22456429 | Co-investigator; established checkpoint activity in CNS disease |
| 2013 | Safety and tumor responses with lambrolizumab (anti-PD-1) in melanoma | New England Journal of Medicine | 23724846 | Lead author; first published clinical data on pembrolizumab |
| 2015 | Pembrolizumab versus ipilimumab in advanced melanoma (KEYNOTE-006) | New England Journal of Medicine | 25891173 | Co-investigator; landmark Phase III; superior PFS and OS over ipilimumab |
| 2015 | Pembrolizumab for treatment of non–small-cell lung cancer (KEYNOTE-001 NSCLC cohort) | New England Journal of Medicine | 25891174 | Co-investigator; extended pembrolizumab's indication beyond melanoma |
| 2017 | Final analysis: pembrolizumab vs. chemotherapy for ipilimumab-refractory melanoma (KEYNOTE-002) | European Journal of Cancer | 28850853 | Co-investigator; confirmed PD-1 superiority over chemotherapy in relapsed disease |
| 2018 | Combined nivolumab and ipilimumab in melanoma metastatic to the brain (CheckMate 204) | New England Journal of Medicine | 30110589 | Co-investigator; first large prospective CNS melanoma immunotherapy study |
| 2019 | Five-year survival outcomes for patients with advanced melanoma treated with pembrolizumab in KEYNOTE-001 | Annals of Oncology | 30715153 | Lead author; 5-yr OS 34% overall, 41% treatment-naive; landmark durability data |
| 2019 | Long-term safety of pembrolizumab monotherapy and relationship with clinical outcome: landmark analysis | European Journal of Cancer | 31279189 | Co-author; long-term toxicity characterization |
| 2019 | Epacadostat plus pembrolizumab versus placebo plus pembrolizumab (ECHO-301/KEYNOTE-252): Phase III | The Lancet Oncology | 31027975 | Co-investigator; IDO inhibitor combination; negative primary endpoint |
| 2021 | Long-term outcomes with initial stable disease on pembrolizumab in KEYNOTE-001 and KEYNOTE-006 | European Journal of Cancer | 34509740 | Lead author; 46.7% of stable-disease patients converted to objective response |
| 2021 | Lifileucel, a tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy, in metastatic melanoma (C-144-01) | Journal of Clinical Oncology | 33983740 | Co-investigator; pivotal TIL therapy trial; ORR 36.4%, durable responses |
| 2021 | Avelumab in previously treated metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (JAVELIN Merkel 200): 5-year update | Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer | 34266993 | Co-investigator; 5-year follow-up of pivotal avelumab MCC approval trial |
| 2022 | Long-term outcomes of patients with active melanoma brain metastases treated with nivolumab + ipilimumab (CheckMate 204): 3-year final results | The Lancet Oncology | 35659375 | Co-investigator; definitive CNS combination checkpoint data |
| 2022 | Longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine-induced humoral immune responses in cancer patients | Cancer Cell | 34914904 | Co-author; immunotherapy and infectious disease intersection |
| 2023 | Seven-year follow-up of the phase III KEYNOTE-006: pembrolizumab versus ipilimumab in advanced melanoma | Journal of Clinical Oncology | 37369224 | Co-investigator; median OS 32.7 mo (pembrolizumab) vs. 15.9 mo (ipilimumab) |
| 2023 | SITC clinical practice guideline on immunotherapy for the treatment of melanoma, version 3.0 | Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer | 37562968 | Co-author; national and international consensus treatment guidelines |
| 2023 | Tebentafusp in combination with durvalumab and/or tremelimumab in metastatic cutaneous melanoma: Phase I | Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer | 37553189 | Co-investigator; bispecific TCR molecule in cutaneous disease |
| 2025 | Long-term efficacy and safety of lifileucel TIL cell therapy in advanced melanoma: 5-year analysis of C-144-01 | Journal of Clinical Oncology | 40373182 | Co-investigator; median DOR 36.5 months; 31.3% of responders ongoing at 5 years |
Professional affiliations and conference activity
Hamid is an active member of and presenter at leading oncology professional societies. He regularly presents research at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Annual Congress and ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress, the Society for Melanoma Research Annual Congress, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting, the International Symposium on Melanoma and Other Cutaneous Malignancies, the Immunotherapy Bridge Conference (Naples, Italy), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, and the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium.[23]
As a co-author of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) clinical practice guideline on melanoma immunotherapy (version 3.0, 2023), Hamid has contributed to formal consensus standards that guide oncology practice internationally.[24]
He maintains active research collaborations with investigators at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Gustave Roussy Institute, Melanoma Institute Australia, and numerous other international academic centers contributing to multi-site KEYNOTE, CheckMate, and TIL therapy trials.
Recognition
Regulatory and clinical impact
Hamid's most direct contribution to oncology has been through the regulatory approvals produced by trials conducted at The Angeles Clinic under his leadership. Drugs for which he was a named investigator in pivotal or early-phase trials that subsequently received FDA approval include pembrolizumab (melanoma, 2014, and multiple subsequent indications), ipilimumab (melanoma, 2011), nivolumab (melanoma, 2014), vemurafenib (BRAF V600E-mutant melanoma, 2011), atezolizumab (multiple solid tumors), avelumab (Merkel cell carcinoma, 2017), tebentafusp (uveal melanoma, 2022), and lifileucel (advanced melanoma, February 2024, accelerated approval; first cellular therapy approved for a solid tumor in the United States).[15][25]
The Angeles Clinic has been subject to multiple FDA audits in connection with these approvals, each of which confirmed the integrity of the clinic's data and trial conduct.[3]
Citation metrics
According to ResearchGate, Hamid has authored or co-authored more than 573 indexed publications and has accumulated more than 80,987 scholarly citations, with over 76,000 reads recorded on that platform.[26] These figures place him among the most cited physician-scientists in cutaneous oncology worldwide. His 2013 NEJM paper reporting the first clinical data on pembrolizumab is among the most cited papers in modern immuno-oncology.
Key opinion leader designations
Hamid holds key opinion leader (KOL) designations from major oncology publishing organizations and medical education platforms, including OncLive, Targeted Oncology, CancerNetwork, the American Journal of Managed Care, and the Video Journal of Oncology (VJOncology).[27] He has been featured as an expert commentator, panel discussant, and invited lecturer at more than 18 consecutive international melanoma symposia and has been a named expert commentator on the FDA approvals of pembrolizumab, tebentafusp, and lifileucel.
He has been affiliated with and featured by the Melanoma Research Alliance, the AIM at Melanoma Foundation, the Global Oncology Academy, and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer as an educational resource for patients, clinicians, and researchers.[28]
Patient recognition
Hamid maintains a 4.3–4.6 star patient rating across major physician review platforms including Healthgrades, Vitals, and Medical News Today, based on more than 82 patient reviews. Consistent commendations describe his clinical communication, attentiveness, and coordination of care across specialties for complex oncology cases. He holds a Preferred Provider designation on Healthgrades based on patient satisfaction and responsiveness metrics.[1]
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