Gulam A. Manji, MD, PhD

Gulam A. Manji, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Director of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Co-Director of The Pancreas Center, and co-leader of the Precision Oncology and Systems Biology Program at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. He completed residency in internal medicine at Albany Medical College and fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia.

Dr. Manji is a physician-scientist focused on developing new therapeutic strategies for gastrointestinal malignancies, particularly pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. His translational research bridges tumor immune microenvironment biology, stromal signaling, KRAS/RAS pathway targeting, CXCR4-CXCL12 biology, autophagy and MAPK signaling, adenosine-mediated immunosuppression, and biomarker-driven clinical trial development.

A major focus of his work has been the CXCR4-CXCL12 pathway in pancreatic cancer. Building on preclinical studies showing that CXCR4 inhibition can remodel the pancreatic tumor microenvironment and enhance antitumor immunity, Dr. Manji advanced this work from bench to bedside through an investigator-initiated clinical trial combining chemotherapy, CXCR4 inhibition, and immune checkpoint blockade. The pilot study demonstrated impressive tumor shrinkage, including one pathologic complete response among 11 patients, and was published in Nature Communications in 2026. These findings supported expansion into a multicenter randomized phase 2 trial that is currently enrolling patients.

Dr. Manji has also contributed to major advances in RAS-directed therapy for pancreatic cancer. He was a co-contributor to the Nature publication evaluating RMC-7977, a RAS-GTP inhibitor tool compound, in preclinical pancreatic cancer models, helping establish the rationale for broad-spectrum RAS inhibition in pancreatic cancer. He also played a role in the positive phase 3 daraxonrasib clinical trial in previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer, which demonstrated significant improvements in progression-free and overall survival and was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Clinically, Dr. Manji cares for patients with pancreatic, hepatobiliary, colorectal, and upper gastrointestinal cancers. His overarching goal is to bring rational, biomarker-informed therapeutic combinations from the laboratory to the clinic to improve outcomes for patients with pancreatic and other gastrointestinal malignancies.