Meet the 2022-2023 Surgical Fellow George Li, MD
George Li | Kristen Ann Carr Fund Surgical Fellow
George Li, MD, received his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his medical degree from Duke University. He completed a residency in general surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. During residency, he spent two years in the sarcoma biology laboratory of Samuel Singer, MD, at MSK, investigating novel targeted therapies in laboratory models of soft tissue sarcomas. After completing residency training, he returned to MSK for a surgical oncology fellowship, which he will be completing in July 2023. He is actively involved in ongoing sarcoma research projects and plans to focus his future practice on the care of patients with sarcoma.
Dr. Li and his wife, Kara, welcomed their first child, Anna, in February 2022. When he is not working or changing diapers, he enjoys cooking, doing crossword puzzles, and running.
Research Summary
As a surgical research fellow in Dr. Singer’s sarcoma biology laboratory from 2016 to 2018, he investigated novel therapeutic strategies in preclinical models of myxofibrosarcomas and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcomas. Using patient-derived cell lines and xenografts, they found that tumors lacking Rb and p53 expression were sensitive to inhibition of the Skp2 protein. His work was supported by a National Institutes of Health T32 grant, he was awarded an American College of Surgeons Resident Research Scholarship, and his findings were published in Cancer
Research. Dr. Li and team are now designing a phase 2 trial to evaluate this therapeutic strategy in patients with advanced Rb- and p53-deficient soft tissue sarcomas. Dr. Li has remained active in sarcoma research with Dr. Singer as
a surgical oncology fellow as well. Through genomic analysis of patient tumor samples, their team has identified the mTOR and MAPK signaling pathways as potential therapeutic targets for myxofibrosarcomas and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcomas. They also have multiple ongoing projects utilizing MSK’s sarcoma database, investigating: