Seeking to transform cancer in young people.
Highlights:
- Dr. Andrea Cercek became the leader she is because she actively learned from mentors who modeled empathy, rigor, and integrity.
- She didn’t accept the idea that research and patient care were mutually exclusive; she created a path that honored both.
- The rise in early-onset colorectal cancer pushed her to investigate deeper and develop new therapies.
- Even in a field defined by uncertainty, her sense of hope strengthens her work and those around her.
- Her work and life are fueled by optimism.
She combines science and human care to improve the treatment of colorectal cancer. Her research seeks to understand the rise in early-onset cases and to develop innovative therapies.
“My dad is a doctor, so I think it’s a pretty typical story,” says Andrea Cercek, gastrointestinal medical oncologist and co-director of the Center for Young Onset Colorectal and Gastrointestinal Cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the United States. From there, at one of the most influential hospitals in the world, she is leading research on cancer in young people to change the outcomes of these diseases.
I like the mix between science, the scientific challenge, and also the patient. All the human interaction.
Although she always enjoyed science —and also literature— it wasn’t until college that she decided to pursue biology, a path that led her to medicine. She says that the combination of scientific challenge and human connection through patient care was what attracted her most. “I like the mix between science, the scientific challenge, and also the patient. All the human interaction,” Cercek explains. Oncology gave her precisely that by combining complexity with the opportunity to build long-term relationships with people.
Throughout her training, several mentors shaped the way she sees medicine. One of them was gastrointestinal oncologist John Macdonald. “He was almost retired, but he was one of those giants,” she recalls. His way of caring for patients, considering them within their family and social context, definitively guided her toward oncology. “His bedside manner, the way he saw the whole patient, the caregiver, the illness […] it was truly inspiring,” she says. That holistic vision is now what she tries to pass on to her own trainees, reminding them that caring for someone with cancer also means caring for their entire support system.
The clinic is like my laboratory.
Dr. Cercek always knew she wanted to dedicate herself to research, but at first thought that meant choosing laboratory work exclusively. She didn’t want to lose the human connection she found in caring for patients. When she arrived at Memorial Sloan Kettering, she realized she didn’t have to choose. With clinical research, she could design and lead clinical trials, pose scientific questions that emerged directly from medical care, and collaborate with other scientists to understand what happens biologically when patients receive certain treatments. “The clinic is like my laboratory,” she says. Over time, she developed an approach in which she uses findings from the clinic to inform the laboratory—and then brings discoveries back to patients.
Today, a central part of her work focuses on understanding why more and more young people are developing colorectal cancer. The short, honest answer is that the exact cause is still unknown. “The good news is that a lot of work is underway to identify exposures.” It is most likely multifactorial, probably linked to environmental and lifestyle changes. These include modern dietary patterns, the consumption of ultra-processed foods, hormones in food, microplastics in the environment, and the widespread use of antibiotics since the mid-20th century. What is clear is that the increase is real and global. “It’s happening everywhere. Literally everywhere,” she says. The likelihood of a colorectal cancer diagnosis in millennials, for example, is roughly double that of people born in 1950. In other words, cases are appearing increasingly early. “There are 14 types of cancer that are rising among young adults,” she explains.
One of my research goals has been to try to minimize the toxicity of some of our curative treatments.
Immunotherapy, she notes, is truly changing how we treat cancer by allowing patients to live longer and with better quality of life. In rectal cancer, immunotherapy has shown a radical shift. Standard treatment usually combines chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. These are interventions that can leave lasting effects such as infertility, early menopause, impotence, and in some cases, the need for a permanent colostomy bag. “One of my research goals has been to try to minimize the toxicity of some of our curative treatments,” she explains.
Without chemo, radiation, or surgery, 100% had complete tumor disappearance with immunotherapy alone.
In a group of patients whose tumors have specific deficiencies in the ability to repair DNA errors, immunotherapy alone has achieved extraordinary results. Cercek says enthusiastically that “without chemo, radiation, or surgery, 100% had complete tumor disappearance with immunotherapy alone.” For many, that means avoiding the side effects of other curative treatments.
Still, she explains, not all tumors respond the same way. “Some types may need a combination with chemotherapy because not all cells are sensitive to immunotherapy,” she says. The drug she uses, dostarlimab, works by deactivating one of the mechanisms malignant cells use to evade the immune system. “Basically, it’s what’s called a PD-1 monoclonal antibody,” Andrea explains.
It’s hard not to realize that we shouldn’t take anything for granted, that every moment must be appreciated because it can be taken away instantly.
These advances—and their limits—have given her a different perspective on life. “You know, this really makes me appreciate life so much more,” she says. Seeing how quickly everything can change. “It’s hard not to realize that we shouldn’t take anything for granted, that every moment must be appreciated because it can be taken away instantly.” And perhaps because of that clarity about how fragile and valuable time is, she encourages those beginning a life in science to pursue what truly inspires them. “I think the most important thing is to dream big and just go for it, and to understand that for every success there are many failures. And, that’s okay,” she says. In her view, these stumbles are part of scientific progress. That’s how we learn, how we move forward, and how science evolves.
“I always say I’m an internal optimist,” she says proudly. The successes she has achieved—especially the results of the immunotherapy study—have strengthened her perspective on life. “The most rewarding part for me has been seeing how this trial changed our patients’ lives, and how it gave them hope.” Watching them recover, build families, and live full lives has been the constant that motivates her every day. In the end, isn’t that what truly gives this science its meaning?
