
W. Kimryn (Kim) Rathmell, M.D., Ph.D.
- Hugh Jackson Morgan Chair in Medicine
- Chair, Department of Medicine
- Physician-in-Chief, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Deputy Director for Research Integration and Career Development,
- Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
- Professor of Biochemistry
W. Kimryn (Kim) Rathmell, M.D., Ph.D.
- Hugh Jackson Morgan Chair in Medicine
- Chair, Department of Medicine
- Physician-in-Chief, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Deputy Director for Research Integration and Career Development,
- Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
- Professor of Biochemistry
kimryn.rathmell@vumc.org
2220 Pierce Ave
Nashville, TN 37232-6307
Research Program
Departments/Affiliations
Provider Information
Profile
Education
- M.D., Stanford University, Stanford, California (1998)
- Ph.D., Stanford University, Stanford, California (1996)
- B.A., University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa (1991)
- B.S., University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa (1991)
Research Emphasis
Renal cell carcinoma
Research Description
As the Director of the Division of Hematology and Oncology, I am invested in creating a basic, translational, and clinical program that supports each of our cancer programs.
As a genitourinary oncologist, I focus on renal cell carcinoma. Our laboratory is focused on cancers caused by deregulation of the normal hypoxia response pathway. We use clear cell renal cell carcinoma as a model system because virtually all of these tumors display dysregulation of this pathway. This cancer affects over 60,000 new patients annually in the US. Recent molecular discoveries based on understanding the hypoxia response pathway have led to the development of multiple new lines of treatment for this cancer. Our goal is to identify strategies to improve the treatment of cancers dependent on hypoxia pathway activation, or better ways to detect these cancers earlier. Therefore, our research takes a broad approach using genetic techniques to study tumor-initiating events and events that promote the development of invasive or metastatic features using in vitro, animal, and human systems. This translational research, all geared toward enhancing our understanding of the genetics and molecular biology of hypoxia-driven cancers, is folded into a clinical research program at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center.
Publications
- Levine RL, Rathmell WK. COVID-19 impact on early career investigators: a call for action. Nat. Rev. Cancer [print-electronic]. 2020 Jun 6/5/2020; PMID: 32503987, PMCID: PMC7273376, PII: 10.1038/s41568-020-0279-5, DOI: 10.1038/s41568-020-0279-5, ISSN: 1474-1768.
- Bacigalupa ZA, Rathmell WK. Beyond glycolysis: Hypoxia signaling as a master regulator of alternative metabolic pathways and the implications in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Cancer Lett [print-electronic]. 2020 Jun 6/5/2020; PMID: 32512023, PII: S0304-3835(20)30296-2, DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2020.05.034, ISSN: 1872-7980.
- de Cubas AA, Dunker W, Zaninovich A, Hongo RA, Bhatia A, Panda A, Beckermann KE, Bhanot G, Ganesan S, Karijolich J, Rathmell WK. DNA hypomethylation promotes transposable element expression and activation of immune signaling in renal cell cancer. JCI Insight. 2020 Jun 6/4/2020; 5(11): PMID: 32493845, PII: 137569, DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.137569, ISSN: 2379-3708.
- Raddatz MA, Huffstater T, Bersi MR, Reinfeld BI, Madden MZ, Booton SE, Rathmell WK, Rathmell JC, Lindman BR, Madhur MS, Merryman WD. Macrophages Promote Aortic Valve Cell Calcification and Alter STAT3 Splicing. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol [print-electronic]. 2020 Jun; 40(6): e153-e165. PMID: 32295422, PMCID: PMC7285853, DOI: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.120.314360, ISSN: 1524-4636.
- Lim AR, Rathmell WK, Rathmell JC. The tumor microenvironment as a metabolic barrier to effector T cells and immunotherapy. Elife. 2020 May 5/5/2020; 9: PMID: 32367803, PMCID: PMC7200151, PII: 55185, DOI: 10.7554/eLife.55185, ISSN: 2050-084X.
- Choueiri TK, Atkins MB, Bakouny Z, Carlo MI, Drake CG, Jonasch E, Kapur P, Lewis B, Linehan WM, Mitchell MJ, Pal SK, Pels K, Poteat S, Rathmell WK, Rini BI, Signoretti S, Tannir N, Uzzo R, Wood CG, Hammers HJ. Summary from the First Kidney Cancer Research Summit, September 12-13, 2019: A Focus on Translational Research. J. Natl. Cancer Inst [print-electronic]. 2020 May 5/2/2020; PMID: 32359162, PII: 5828225, DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djaa064, ISSN: 1460-2105.
- Liu XD, Kong W, Peterson CB, McGrail DJ, Hoang A, Zhang X, Lam T, Pilie PG, Zhu H, Beckermann KE, Haake SM, Isgandrova S, Martinez-Moczygemba M, Sahni N, Tannir NM, Lin SY, Rathmell WK, Jonasch E. PBRM1 loss defines a nonimmunogenic tumor phenotype associated with checkpoint inhibitor resistance in renal carcinoma. Nat Commun. 2020 May 5/1/2020; 11(1): 2135. PMID: 32358509, PMCID: PMC7195420, PII: 10.1038/s41467-020-15959-6, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15959-6, ISSN: 2041-1723.
- Eulitt PJ, Altun E, Sheikh A, Wong TZ, Woods ME, Rose TL, Wallen EM, Pruthi RS, Smith AB, Nielsen ME, Whang YE, Kim WY, Godley PA, Basch EM, David GU, Ramirez J, Deal AM, Rathmell WK, Chen RC, Bjurlin MA, Lin W, Lee JK, Milowsky MI. Pilot Study of [18F] Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET)/Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for Staging of Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer (MIBC). Clin Genitourin Cancer [print-electronic]. 2020 Mar 3/5/2020; PMID: 32147364, PII: S1558-7673(20)30042-2, DOI: 10.1016/j.clgc.2020.02.008, ISSN: 1938-0682.
- Moslehi J, Rathmell WK. The 2019 Nobel Prize honors fundamental discoveries in hypoxia response. J. Clin. Invest. 2020 Jan 1/2/2020; 130(1): 4-6. PMID: 31763994, PMCID: PMC6934228, PII: 134813, DOI: 10.1172/JCI134813, ISSN: 1558-8238.
- Terzo EA, Lim AR, Chytil A, Chiang YC, Farmer L, Gessner KH, Walker CL, Jansen VM, Rathmell WK. Correction: SETD2 loss sensitizes cells to PI3Kß and AKT inhibition. Oncotarget. 2019 Oct 10/29/2019; 10(59): 6391-2. PMID: 31695846, PMCID: PMC6824879, PII: 27288, DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.27288, ISSN: 1949-2553.