Pamela Lyn Kunz is an American oncologist. She is the leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancers Program at

Yale Cancer Center Yale Cancer Center (YCC) was founded in 1974 as a result of an act of Congress in 1971, which declared the nation's "war on cancer". It is one of a network of 51 Comprehensive Cancer Centers designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).Curr ...

and Smilow Cancer Hospital and director of GI Medical Oncology within the Section of Medical Oncology. She was formerly the director of the Stanford Neuroendocrine Tumor Program before leaving, in part due to harassment. Kunz was also recognized as one of the 100 Influential Women in Oncology by OncoDaily.

Early life and education

Kunz was born to parents

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

and Margaret Kunz and grew up with her brother David. Her father was a biologist specializing in the study of bats at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

. She attended

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

for her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1994 and

Geisel School of Medicine The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth is the graduate medical school of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The fourth oldest medical school in the United States, it was founded in 1797 by New England physician Nathan Smith. It is o ...

for her medical degree in 2001. In 2000, she was the co-recipient of the "Best Oral Presentation by a Resident or Medical Student" Award and elected student body president.

Career

Kunz joined

Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1858. This ...

in 2001 as a resident in Internal Medicine, during which she said she felt "supported, mentored and valued." She remained at the institution for a fellowship in Oncology and joined the Division of Oncology faculty in 2010. During her tenure at Stanford, Kunz's research focused on treating patients with gastrointestinal malignancies and neuroendocrine tumors, leading to the design, development and execution of clinical trials in this field. As an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...

of medicine, Kunz was appointed the medical director of the Stanford's Neuroendocrine Tumor Program, a program aimed at providing clinical care to patients with neuroendocrine tumors. She also serves on the executive committee of the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS) and chairs their finance committee and the Membership & Diversity Committee. During the 2019–20 academic year, Kunz was appointed a faculty research fellow at Stanford's Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research. Through this fellowship, she examined gender representation in her field including the disparities of women in clinical trials and leadership roles. In early 2020, Kunz announced that she was leaving Stanford to accept a position as leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancers Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital at

and director of GI Medical Oncology within the Section of Medical Oncology. She told ''

The Stanford Daily ''The Stanford Daily'' is the student-run, independent daily newspaper serving Stanford University. ''The Daily'' is distributed throughout campus and the surrounding community of Palo Alto, California, United States. It has published since the U ...

'' that she was leaving Stanford as a result of "microaggressions...that had caused significant barriers to her success." In July 2020, Kunz was appointed the leader of gastrointestinal cancers program at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital and an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Oncology.

Personal life

Kunz is married and has three sons. She identifies as a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunz, Pamela Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Stanford University School of Medicine faculty Yale School of Medicine faculty American oncologists American women oncologists Geisel School of Medicine alumni Physicians from Massachusetts