Distinguished Scientist Director’s Lecture Series | Kimmie Ng, MD, MPH, FASCO

Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer: Understanding the Rise

Dr. Kimmie Ng is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Associate Chief of the Division of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), and the FoundingDirector of the Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Center at DFCI. Her research focuses on identifying dietary and molecular predictors of colorectal cancer risk and survival, with a special interest in the vitamin D pathway, microbiome, and young-onset colorectal cancer. She has led multiple clinical trials of novel therapies for patients with colorectal cancer, and is the recipient of numerous NIH, foundation, and industry grants. She chaired the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Scientific Program Committee for the 2023 Annual Meeting and currently serves as a member of ASCO’s Nominating Committee. She was appointed an Associate Editor of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) in February 2024. She has been featured in multiple national media outlets, including the TODAY Show, ABC News, The New York Times, and CNN to raise awareness of young-onset colorectal cancer and the importance of cancer screening, and she was selected for inclusion in The Washington Post Next 50, a list ofpeople shaping society in 2026. Dr. Ng obtained her Bachelor of Science degree with Distinction from Yale University and her Doctor of Medicine degree as a 21st Century Scholar from theUniversity of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. She completed a residency in internal medicine at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and a medical oncology fellowship at Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care. She subsequently received a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.