James Brugarolas, MD, PhD, is a practicing oncologist and a tenured Professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW). He is the Sherry Wigley Crow Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and the Founding Director of the Kidney Cancer Program, one of two recognized by the NCI with a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) award (Brugarolas, PI). Spanning the spectrum from fundamental to clinical research, discoveries from his laboratory identified kidney cancer driver genes, set the foundation for first genetic classification of the most common type (ccRCC), led to the first mouse models reproducing ccRCC, and identified the first core dependency. His team is credited with advancing a first-in-class HIF-2 inhibitor developed at UTSW (now approved by the FDA) by validating HIF-2 as a target in kidney cancer and through the identification of putative biomarkers and mechanisms of resistance. A member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and the NCI Renal Cancer Task Force, Dr. Brugarolas serves as chair of the scientific advisory board of the Academy of Kidney Cancer Investigators. Following a residency in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center, he completed a fellowship in oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he trained with Nobel Laureate William G. Kaelin, Jr., MD. He holds an M.D. from the University of Navarra and a PhD. from MIT, where he trained with Tyler Jacks, PhD.