Richard S. Finn, M.D., is director of the Signal Transduction Program in the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA and joined Zai Lab’s Scientific Advisory Board in 2024.
Dr. Finn brings to our Board expertise in clinical medicine, hematology/oncology and cancer research. He also serves as a professor of clinical medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Finn has vast experience across patient care and laboratory and clinical research, focusing on targeted molecular agents and biomarkers in liver and breast cancer. He has served as principal and sub-investigator in trials exploring targeted therapies in breast and hepatobiliary cancers, with a particular interest in predictive markers of response to novel therapeutics. His work has been published in prestigious journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Cancer Research, The Lancet, Nature Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology and Clinical Cancer Research. He has also led oral presentations at major medical meetings and conferences including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), European Cancer Conference (ECCO/ESMO), the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) and the International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA).
Dr. Finn has been involved in the development of several practice-changing therapeutics in cancer medicine, including playing a lead role in the preclinical studies and clinical studies that led to the global approval of palbociclib (Ibrance), the first CDK 4/6 inhibitor in cancer medicine. More recently, Dr. Finn led the global approval of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) plus bevacizumab (Avastin) for the front-line treatment of advanced liver cancer. The first regimen to improve survival in this indication in more than a decade. He is a member of ASCO, AACR and ESMO and served as a past president of ILCA.
Dr. Finn received his M.D. from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and completed his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in hematology/oncology from the UCLA School of Medicine.
