Charis Eng, MD, PhD
Department Chair
Sondra J. and Stephen R. Hardis Endowed Chair in Cancer Genomic Medicine
Location:
Cleveland Clinic Main Campus
Research
An average 10% of all cancers are due to strong alterations in genes that predispose individuals to multiple cancers, often at young ages, and that can be inherited and passed on to their children. Everyone is born with genes, whether "good" ones or "bad" ones. Scientists estimate that an individual is born with an average of 6 "bad" genes that predispose to serious illness, such as cancer. The Eng lab carries out patient-relevant research to increase genetic and genomic information resulting in intimate knowledge of human genes, which allows the creation of a roadmap for prevention and can lead to graceful aging. The Eng lab uses PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome (PHTS), which encompasses those with germline PTEN mutations, as a model. PHTS is characterized by a high frequency of breast, thyroid and other cancers and is the most common cause of autism spectrum disorder. However, we do not know who will develop cancer(s) and/or ASD. The Eng lab is committed to investigating the factors that determine who with a germline mutation will develop cancer and/or ASD, by using a multidisciplinary approach (clinical research, cell, iPSC and preclinical models) for identifying and characterizing modifiers that interact with the germline PTEN mutation: genomic, metabolic, microbiomic, immune, etc. The Eng lab's cancer genetics and genomics research fulfills the adage "Knowledge is Power," empowering patients to promote health and well-being for themselves and their families.
Biography
Charis Eng, MD, PhD, is the Chair and founding Director of the Genomic Medicine Institute of Cleveland Clinic, founding Director and attending clinical cancer geneticist of the institute’s clinical component, the Center for Personalized Genetic Healthcare, and Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Genetics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She holds a joint appointment as Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and is a member of Cleveland Clinic’s Taussig Cancer Center and of the CASE Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Eng was honored with the Sondra J. and Stephen R. Hardis Endowed Chair in Cancer Genomic Medicine in 2008 and the American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship in 2009. More recently, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (previously known as Institute of Medicine) of the US National Academies of Sciences for her achievements and leadership in genetics- and genomics-based research and personalized healthcare. She continues to hold an honorary appointment at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Eng’s research interests may be broadly characterized as clinical cancer genetics translational research. Her work on RET testing in multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 and characterization of the widening clinical spectra of PTEN mutations have been acknowledged as the paradigm for the practice of clinical cancer genetics. At the clinical interface, Dr. Eng is acknowledged as one of the rare go to people on what is and how to implement genetic- and omics-enabled personalized healthcare.
Dr. Eng grew up in Singapore and Bristol, UK and entered the University of Chicago at the age of 16. After completing an MD and PhD at its Pritzker School of Medicine, she specialized in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston and trained in medical oncology at Harvard’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She was formally trained in clinical cancer genetics at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Marsden NHS Trust, UK, and in laboratory-based human cancer genetics by Prof Sir Bruce Ponder. At the end of 1995, Dr. Eng returned to the Farber as Assistant Professor of Medicine, and in January, 1999 was recruited by The Ohio State University as Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Clinical Cancer Genetics Program. In 2001, she was honored with the conferment of the Davis Professorship and appointed Co-Director of the Division of Human Genetics in the Department of Internal Medicine. In 2002, she was promoted to Professor and Division Director, and was conferred the Klotz Endowed Chair. She was recruited to the Cleveland Clinic in Sept, 2005 where she founded and leads the Genomic Medicine Institute, a single platform for research, academic clinical activities and education in genomics medicine as it enables healthcare. Dr. Eng has published over 400 peer reviewed original papers in such journals as the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Lancet, Nature Genetics, Nature, Cell and Molecular Cell. She has received numerous awards and honors including election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, to the Association of American Physicians and as Fellow of AAAS, and the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award. Dr. Eng is the 2005 recipient of the ATA Van Meter Award, the 2006 Ernst Oppenheimer Award of The Endocrine Society and the 2006 American Cancer Society John Peter Minton, MD, PhD Hero of Hope Research Medal of Honor, 2014 James Ewing Lecturer of the Society of Surgical Oncology and the 2014 AACR-WICR Charlotte Friend Memorial Lecturer. She was the North American Editor of the Journal of Medical Genetics (1998-2005), Senior Editor of Cancer Research (2004-09), and Associate Editor of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (2005-09) and of the American Journal of Human Genetics (2007-09). She is in the midst of a 10-year term as Editor-in-Chief of Endocrine-Related Cancer. Dr. Eng completed a 3-year term on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Human Genetics, has completed a 2-year term as Chair of the Clinical Science Committee of the Personalized Medicine Coalition and completed a 5-year term on the Board of Scientific Directors of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Dr. Eng was appointed by Kathleen Sebelius to the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society (2009-11). She also was co-chair of their Task Force to examine whole genome sequencing for clinical application, and serves on the Expert Panel of the WHO Grand Challenges Project on Public Health Genomics in Developing Countries.
Education & Professional Highlights
Education & Fellowships
Fellowship - University of Cambridge-School of Clinical Medicine
Clinical Cancer Genetics
Cambridge,
1995
Fellowship - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Harvard Medical School
Medical Oncology
Boston, MA USA
1995
Fellowship - Brigham & Women's Hospital
Medical Oncology
Boston, MA USA
1992
Residency - Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School
Internal Medicine
Boston, MA USA
1991
Medical Education - University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Chicago, IL USA
1988
Medical Education - University of Chicago
Chicago, IL USA
1986
Undergraduate - University of Chicago
Chicago, IL USA
1982
Additional Training
- Clinical Cancer Genetics Fellowship Training Programme, University of Cambridge Center for Medical Genetics, and Royal Marsden Hospital, U.K., 1992-1995. I am only one of two formally trained clinical cancer geneticists in this country.
- Leadership Academy, Fisher College of Business and College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 2003
Professional Highlights
- Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award
- Elected Member, American Society of Clinical Investigation
- Elected Member, American Association of Physicians
- Klotz Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 2002-2005
- Sondra J. and Stephen R. Hardis Chair in Cancer Genomic Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, 2008
- American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor, 2009-2010
- Appointed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society (SACGHS) 2009
- National Academy of Medicine (Institute of Medicine) of the National Academies, 2010
- 2013 400 Most Influential Biomedical Researchers
- Exceptional Mentor Award, AMWA, 2013
- Women's Physician Section Mentor Award, AMA, 2014
- James Ewing Lecture of the Society of Surgical Oncology, 2014
- AACR-WICR Charlotte Friend Lecture, 2014
Awards & Honors
- The First Lawrence and Susan Marx Investigatorship in Human Cancer Genetics, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass., 1995-98
- Patterson Fellowship, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass., 1996
- Barr Investigatorship, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass., 1997-1999
- Promotion to Fellowship, American College of Physicians, 1999
- Election to Membership, American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2001
- Harry de Lozier Memorial Lecturership, Columbus, Ohio, 2002
- Stephanie Spielman Breast Cancer Research Award, James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 2002
- Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award, 2002
- Plenary Lecture, Biomedical Research Week Minisymposium, The Ohio State University, Columbus: Clinical Cancer Genetics: The ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet to come (with apologies to Charles Dickens), 2003
- Election to Fellowship, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2003
- Election to Membership, Association of American Physicians, 2004
- Local Legend from Ohio, bestowed by the American Medical Women’s Association in conjunction with the U.S. Senate on women physicians who have demonstrated commitment, originality, innovation and/or creativity in their fields of medicine, 2005
- Mortar Board and Sphinx Faculty Recognition Award for the single faculty mentor who has most greatly influenced a graduating undergraduate student’s academic career (nominated by Christopher Alvarez-Breckenridge), The Ohio State University, Columbus, 2005
- The Donald V. Unverferth Award for Sustained Scholarly Excellence and Extraordinary Mentorship by a Faculty Member, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 2005
- American Association for Cancer Research-Women in Cancer Research Distinguished Scientists Database, 2005
- American Thyroid Association Van Meter Award for Outstanding Research on the Thyroid Gland and Related Topics, 13th International Thyroid Congress, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2005
- 2006 Innovator Award, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, 2006
- Ernst Oppenheimer Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievements in Endocrine Research, The Endocrine Society, Boston, Mass., 2006
- The Endocrine Society/Pfizer, Inc. International Finalist Award for Excellence in Published Clinical Research in J Clin Endocrinol Metab in 2005, The Endocrine Society, Boston, Mass., 2006
- American Cancer Society (Ohio Division) John Peter Minton, MD, PhD Hero of Hope Research Medal of Honor (in the area of Clinical Research) in recognition of significant contributions to the advancement of cancer research in Ohio, 2006
- Distinguished Lecturership, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, Pa., 2007
- Best Doctors in America, 2007
- Top 10 Innovations for 2008, #4: Genomics-based personalized healthcare. Cleveland Clinic Innovations Summit 2007 (Oct 1-3), 2007
- 2007 Innovator Award, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, 2007
- Recipient of the 2009 Maria and Sam Miller Professional Excellence Award for Scientific Achievement in Clinical Research
- Appointed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society (SACGHS) 2009
- Sondra J. and Stephen R. Hardis Chair in Cancer Genomic Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, 2008
- American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor 2009
- National Academy of Medicine/Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2010
- National Academy of Medicine (Institute of Medicine) of the National Academies, 2010
- 400 Most Influential Biomedical Researchers, 2013
- Exceptional Mentor Award, AMWA, 2013
- Women's Physician Section Mentor Award, AMA, 2014
- James Ewing Lecture of the Society of Surgical Oncology, 2014
- AACR-WICR Charlotte Friend Lecture, 2014
- University of Chicago Medical Alumni Distinguished Service Award, 2015
- Innovator Award, Cleveland Clinic, 2016
- Docteur (MD) honoris causa, University of Liège, Belgium, 2016
- University of Chicago Alumni Association Professional Achievement Award, 2017
- PTEN Hamartoma Tumor Syndrome Foundation Award of Excellence in PTEN Research and Clinical Care, 2018
- American Cancer Society (National) Medal of Honor (Clinical Research), 2018
- William Lees Visiting Professor and Distinguished Lecturer, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, 2018
- Alpha Omega Alpha Alumni Award (nominated by senior class), Pritzker School of Medicine (Alpha of Illinois), University of Chicago, 2019
- Expertscape’s Top 0.01% of Scholars writing on Hereditary Neoplastic Syndromes, 2019 -
- Top 0.01% Impactful Scientists (all fields) in the World, 2019
- AAAS Fellow Special Digital Ribbon for extraordinary achievements advancing science, 2020
- University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Distinguished Alumnus/a Award, 2021
- Expertscape’s Top 0.1% of Scholars Writing on Thyroid Neoplasms, 2021 -
- Lerner Research Institute Excellence in Trainee Mentorship Award, 2021
- Gorlin Lectureship, American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathologists, 2022
- Lerner Eminent Scholar Award, 2022
Innovations & Patents
- Among a few in the U.S. who created the field of clinical cancer genetics. Pioneered the nascent field of cancer genomic medicine and personalized genetic healthcare. Inventions and patents relate to improving risk assessment and personalizing healthcare.
Memberships
- American Society of Human Genetics
- American Association for Cancer Research
- American Society of Clinical Oncology
- The Endocrine Society
- American College of Physicians
Research
Using multidisciplinary approaches, the Eng lab identifies and characterizes genes that cause susceptibility to inherited cancer syndromes, determines their role in sporadic carcinogenesis and performs molecular epidemiologic analyses as they relate to clinical applications. Using this framework, the lab examines PTEN and SDH in Cowden syndrome, which has a high risk of breast, thyroid and endometrial cancers, and SDH-related heritable neuroendocrine neoplasias. The lab examines PTEN, encoding a dual specificity phosphatase on 10q23.3, in Cowden and other hamartoma syndromes, as well as in isolated cancers. The lab pursues diverse mechanisms of PTEN inactivation for various sporadic cancers, including those of the breast and thyroid. Eng lab researchers explore gene-gene interactions and gene-environment interactions as relevant to ultimate clinical outcome. As such, a major focus of the Eng lab is to utilize multi-disciplinary approaches — genomic modifiers, immune, microbiome, interrogation of cell fate and cellular phenotype, mouse models, etc. — to dissect the mechanism of PTEN alterations leading to cancer predisposition or to the seemingly disparate autism spectrum disorder. This aim of this fundamental research is to not only resolve the mechanism, but also to identify novel targets for therapy and prevention.
Our Team
Selected Publications
View publications for Charis Eng, MD, PhD
(Disclaimer: This search is powered by PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. PubMed is a third-party website with no affiliation with Cleveland Clinic.)
Selected Recent Publications
Yehia L, Seyfi M, Niestroj L-M, Padmanabhan R, Ni Y, Frazier TW, Lal D, Eng C. Copy number variation and clinical outcome in patients with germline PTEN mutations. JAMA Netw Open 2020; 3(1):e1920415. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.20415 [PMC7042875]
Tzeng A, Sangwan N, Jia M, Liu CC, Keslar K, Downs-Kelly E, Fairchild R, Al-Hilli Z, Grobmyer S, Eng C. Human breast microbiome correlates with prognostic features and immunological signatures in breast cancer. Genome Med 2021; 13:60 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13073-021-00874-2 {PMC8052771]
Sarn N, Jaini R, Lee HP, Thacker S, Dutta R, Eng C. Cytoplasmic-predominant Pten increases microglial activation and synaptic pruning in a murine model with autism-like phenotype. Mol Psych 2021; 26:1458-1471. doi: 10.1038/s41380-020-0681-0. Epub 2020 Feb 13 [PMC8159731] [Cover feature]
Jia M, Sangwan N, Tzeng A, Eng C. Interplay between class II HLA genotypes and the microbiome and immune phenotypes in individuals with PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome. JCO Precis Oncol 2021 Feb 9;5:PO.20.00374. doi: 10.1200/PO.20.00374. eCollection 2021
Yehia L, Ni Y, Sadler T, Frazier TW, Eng C. Distinct metabolic profiles associated with autism spectrum disorder versus cancer in individuals with germline PTEN mutations. Nature Partner Journal Genomic Med 2022; Mar 3;7(1):16. doi: 10.1038/s41525-022-00289-x. [PMC8894426]
Brewer T, Yehia L, Bazeley P, Eng C. Exome sequencing reveals a distinct somatic genomic landscape from women with germline PTEN variants. Am J Hum Genet 2022; 109:1520-33.
Careers
Research News
Connecting with patients and performing long-term diverse studies changes the standards of patient care.
Collaborative research reveals the potential link between bile tract diseases and pancreaticobiliary bacteria.
The first-of-its-kind national network is aimed at collaborative research and care for people with rare diseases.
Dr. Charis Eng will investigate the development of autism spectrum disorder and cancer in individuals affected by PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome.
A research team led by Dr. Charis Eng has uncovered genomic characteristics of breast cancers associated with PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome that differentiate them from sporadic breast cancers.
A study led by Dr. Eng suggests that patients with PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome may require less frequent thyroid cancer surveillance than current guidelines recommend.
The VeloSano Trainee Dream Experiment Fellowship and Caregiver Catalyst Grant program have provided the trainees with funding to pursue their novel cancer research projects.
Dr. Sarn was recognized for his significant contributions to the fields of developmental biology and embryology during their graduate program at Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. Eng and colleagues conducted a multi-center analysis of skin findings in patients with PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome.
Dr. Eng’s team found that distinct metabolite profiles may be associated with either cancer or autism spectrum disorder and/or developmental delay in individuals with PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome.