Amir Goldkorn, MD

Amir Goldkorn, M.D., is the Associate Director of Translational Sciences at USC Norris. He is a Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Dr. Goldkorn obtained his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University (magna cum laude) and his Medical Degree at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he also completed his Internal Medicine residency. Subsequently, he trained in Hematology/Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he then remained for 3 additional years of postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Elizabeth Blackburn, a Nobel Laureate and discoverer of telomerase, the enzyme that lengthens and protects chromosome ends (telomeres).

Dr. Goldkorn is a board-certified medical oncologist and physician-scientist who is clinically subspecialized in genitourinary (GU) malignancies. Dr. Goldkorn’s laboratory is focused on developing the therapeutic and biomarker potential of liquid biopsies, cancer plasticity, and telomerase. His team leads liquid biopsy studies in phase III multi-center GU cancer trials sponsored by the NCI-SWOG cooperative group, where Dr. Goldkorn chairs translational medicine for prostate cancer. Dr. Goldkorn founded and directs a Liquid Biopsy Core at USC Norris, which offers state-of-the-art instrumentation and develops novel workflows for multiparametric analysis of liquid biopsies. In the area of cancer plasticity, Dr. Goldkorn’s group discovered that cancer cells can cyclically lose and regain cancer stem-like properties, and their current work is focused on elucidating epigenetic, epitranscriptomic, and metabolomic mechanisms that mediate this plasticity. Collectively, these research efforts are aimed at surmounting cancer heterogeneity and providing powerful new tools for precision cancer care.

• Harvard University: Harvard College Scholarship, 1990
   – 1994
• UCLA School of Medicine: Letters of Distinction, 1996
   – 1997
• American Society of Clinical Oncology: Young Investigator Award, 2006
   – 2007
• Stop Cancer Foundation: Research Career Development Award, 2007
   – 2010
• American Society of Clinical Oncology: Merit Award, 2012
• Western Society of Clinical Investigation: Elected Member, 2014
• American Federation for Medical Research: Outstanding Investigator Award, 2015
• National Institutes of Health: Loan Repayment Program Award

• Early tumorigenesis in vivo imaging, scRNA-seq to functional assays
  NIH · R21CA267849 · Dec 13, 2021 – Nov 30, 2023 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• Integrated radiomic and liquid biopsy monitoring in SWOG S1802: A phase 3 therapeutic trial for metastatic prostate cancer
  NIH · R01CA257610 · Feb 9, 2021 – Jan 31, 2026 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Biomarkers of Hormone Therapy Response in a Multicenter Prostate Cancer Trial
  NIH · R01CA172436 · Sep 10, 2014 – Aug 31, 2021 · Role: Principal Investigator
• NCTN – Network Lead Academic Participating Site: USC
  NIH · UG1CA180830 · Apr 17, 2014 – Feb 29, 2032 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• Circulating Tumor Cell Capture & Analysis in a Multi-Center Prostate Cancer Trial
  NIH · R01CA141077 · Sep 18, 2009 – Nov 30, 2014 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• Targeting Cancer with Telomerase Interference
  NIH · K08CA126983 · Sep 1, 2007 – Aug 31, 2012 · Role: Principal Investigator

• Daneshmand, Siamak
• Lenz, Heinz-Josef
• Quinn, David
• Gill, Inderbir
• Djaladat, Hooman
• Haiman, Christopher