Stephen P. Hunger

Associate Director for Pediatric Research, Abramson Cancer Center

Director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research

Jeffrey E. Perelman Distinguished Chair, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Stephen P. Hunger, MD is a nationally prominent specialist in children’s cancer. He is Chief of the Division of Oncology, Director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research, and holder of the Jeffrey E. Perelman Distinguished Chair in the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA.

Dr. Hunger focuses his research on molecular and genomic approaches to identify and clinically evaluate targeted cancer treatments for children with relapsed or high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) such as Philadelphia chromosome-like (Ph-Like) ALL. The long-term goal of Dr. Hunger’s research is to develop better therapies, improve cure rates, and minimize treatment toxicities for children with ALL. Dr. Hunger leads the National Cancer Institute/Children’s Oncology Group high-risk ALL TARGET (Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatments) program, which has used next generation sequencing technologies of the exome, genome, and transcriptome to identify genetic mutations and chromosomal perturbations that contribute to the development of pediatric ALL and high-risk subtypes of the disease. The results of these analyses have demonstrated that relapsed or certain high-risk pediatric ALL subtypes have genomic lesions that should make them sensitive to precision medicine therapies using FDA approved targeted cancer therapies.

Dr. Hunger received his BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Applied Biology and his MD from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He then completed Pediatrics Residency at Johns Hopkins and a Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Fellowship at the Stanford University School of Medicine.