Professor
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Nizar M. Tannir, MD, FACP, is Professor in the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), and holds the Endowed Ransom Horne, Jr. Professorship for Cancer Research.
He is a clinical investigator with expertise in trial design and has conducted numerous phase I and II clinical trials in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Dr. Tannir has served and is serving as chair of steering committees of trials testing novel targeted agents and novel cytokines and contributed significantly to phase III trials which have led to the FDA approval of several therapeutic agents in RCC. Dr.
Tannir is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in variant histology RCC including the rare kidney tumors, renal medullary carcinoma (RMC) and translocation RCC (tRCC). Dr. Tannir’s translational research is focused on deciphering the molecular underpinnings of RMC and tRCC.
Dr. Tannir has contributed more than 300 original manuscripts to the RCC field and many chapters in several books on kidney cancer. He is editor of two books on kidney cancer: Renal Cell Carcinoma, which was published by Oxford University Press in 2014, and Rare Kidney Tumors-Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Management and Emerging Therapies, which was published by Springer in 2019.
Dr. Tannir has received numerous awards for patient care, education, and clinical research including the 2013 Gerald P. Bodey Award for Excellence in Education, the 2014 Waun Ki Hong Award for Leadership in Education, the 2014 Melvin L. Samuels Award for Excellence in Patient Care, the 2016 University of Texas Cancer Foundation Faculty Achievement Award in Patient Care, the 2017 Eugene P. Schonfeld Award from the Kidney Cancer Association, the Endowed Ransom Horne, Jr. Professorship for Cancer Research in 2018, the Distinguished Clinical Faculty Mentor Award in 2020, and the John Mendelsohn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.