Dr. Wapnir Receives Smart Foundation Funding for Breast Cancer Research
January 13, 2025
Dr. Irene Wapnir has received funding from the Smart Foundation for her research project: “Early and Late Hormone-positive Ipsilateral Breast Tumor Recurrences’ Genomic Signatures.”
“Our study focuses on trying to characterize the types of tumors that recur locally after lumpectomy or breast conserving surgery,” said Wapnir. “Some of these recurrences appear decades later, so we wonder: are these new cancers that develop or cancer cells that remained dormant in the area and survived all the prior treatments?”
About half of these recurrences are highly-associated with the presence of metastasis in tissues and organs outside the breast. Genomic signatures have defined sub-groups of tumors with aggressive and less aggressive behaviors.
“One of the goals of our research is to correlate these signatures to early or late recurrences. In fact, we might use the findings to classify an in-breast recurrence as early or late,” said Wapnir.
Wapnir will be working closely with Dr. Colin Bergstrom, one of the fellows in the Breast Program who has worked with Dr. Jennifer Caswell and Dr. Christina Curtis on these genomic signatures.
Much of Wapnir’s national clinical trials work has been on studying the longterm outcomes of patient in NSABP trials who experienced locoregional recurrences. She was also chair of Chemotherapy as Adjuvant for LOcally Recurrent breast cancer (CALOR) trial, which investigated the effectiveness of chemotherapy after local therapy for isolated locoregional recurrence.
Additionally, the Williams Foundation is continuing to support Dr. Wapnir’s project: Investigator Initiated Randomized Trial of Neoadjuvant partial breast radiation therapy for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).
Media Contact

Bio
About Stanford Surgery
The Stanford University Department of Surgery is dedicated to inventing the future of surgical care through:
• pioneering cutting-edge research,
• developing the next generation of leaders, and
• healing through incomparable surgical skills and compassion.
To learn more, please visit surgery.stanford.edu
The Latest
- – Surgery
INSIDE: ASC2025
Stanford Surgery highlights from the 20th Academic Surgical Congress, which took place February 11-13, 2025 in Las Vegas, NV.
- – Surgery
Two Teams Graduate RITE Program
Teams tasked with reducing preoperative LOS for patients undergoing NSTIs or Lap Choles graduate from Stanford’s Realizing Improvement through Team Empowerment (RITE) program.
- – StanfordMed News Center
Majority of kids who die in mass shootings killed by family members, study shows
Domestic violence underlies the majority of children’s and teens’ deaths in U.S. mass shootings, a new Stanford Medicine-led analysis has found.
- – Vascular & Endovascular Surgery
INSIDE VESS 2025: Stanford Vascular Surgery Recap
The Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Society (VESS) Annual Meeting was held in Breckenridge, CO this past weekend, February 6-9, 2025. Check out highlights from the Stanford Vascular Surgery team.
- – Surgery
The OR Black Box and Improving Surgery with Dr. Teodor Grantcharov
In this episode, host Rachel Baker sits down with Dr. Teodor Grantcharov, a professor in the Division of General Surgery at Stanford University and inventor of the OR Black Box. They discuss his journey across continents as he pursued a career in MIS/Bariatric surgery (and the impacts of the different healthcare systems he encountered) as well as innovation and medical entrepreneurship.