Edith A. Perez

Edith A. Perez, M.D., (born in Puerto Rico) is a world-renowned American translational researcher and cancer specialist, known equally for her impact in designing innovative clinical trials and for her patient-centered humanitarian passion. 
Education and Career.
Dr. Perez earned her medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine in San Juan and completed her residency in internal medicine at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. In addition, she completed her fellowship training at the University of California, Davis. She received additional leadership training from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia and the Harvard Executive Development Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, in Boston. Dr. Perez is board certiﬁed in internal medicine, medical oncology and hematology.
Dr. Perez joined Bolt Biotherapeutics in 2020 as its Chief Medical Oﬃcer. She brought her two decades of academic experience at the Mayo Clinic and her established leadership in the oncology community with her to Bolt. She will maintain her academic affiliation as Professor of Medicine with Mayo Clinic. She will also maintain leadership roles in various non-profit organizations, including The Donna Foundation and Stand Up to Cancer.
Her career at Mayo Clinic has contributed to her academic excellence, global engagement in research and education, and compassion for patients. Dr. Perez became Director of the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer Translational Genomics Program in 2009. She has also served as Full Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic since 2001, an appointment to which she was promoted after working as an Assistant and then Professor at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Perez has also been a Supplemental Consultant in the Department of Hematology/Oncology and Cancer Biology at Mayo Clinic since 2015. 
Throughout her academic career, Dr. Perez has served as principal investigator in the development and execution of a wide range of clinical trials exploring the use of new therapeutic agents for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer. Her experience with these clinical trials highlighted the need for basic research studies to evaluate the role of genetic markers in the development and aggressiveness of breast cancer. Her leadership in developing and spearheading these basic research studies has helped advance an understanding of biomarkers’ prognostic and predictive applicability.
Dr. Perez also has extensive editorial experience, having served on the editorial boards of and as a reviewer for multiple journals. She has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed articles. 
She worked as the Vice president and Head of the BioOncology-U.S. Medical Affairs unit at Genentech from 2015 to 2018, where she led the development and conduct of translational studies with registrational intent, including engaging in discussions with the FDA. Her activities those years also included membership at the Genentech/Roche Cancer Immunotherapy Governance Committee.
Dr. Perez is also the co-developer of the 26.2 National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer, which raises funds for under-served women and for genomics and immunologic translational cancer research.
Significant Contributions to Science.
A goal of Dr. Perez’s groundbreaking research is understanding the biological basis of predictability of prognosis and prediction of benefit to therapies. Pivotal information to emerge from this research includes the impact of membrane, cytoplasmic, and nuclear markers on benefit to chemotherapy with or without anti-HER2 therapy, and expanding these findings to triple-negative breast cancer. 
Citations
Genomics is an important pillar of biology, prognosis, and predictability of therapy. As principal investigator, Dr. Perez has been one of the leaders in this effort.
Citations
Dr. Perez was the principal investigator in one of the first groups of researchers to identify a prognostic, as well as a predictive marker for benefit to adjuvant trastuzumab using genome profiling. These studies have led to an increased understanding of the impact of immune parameters on prognosis and prediction of therapies.
Citations 