Oncologist Near Me – Eric Small: Prominent Prostate Cancer Specialist

Oncologist Near Me: Eric Small

Special initiative by OncoDaily

Welcome to OncoDaily’s special section “Oncologist Near Me”, where we introduce prominent oncologists from around the world.

Here, you can get to know the leading cancer specialists in your area, including both personal and professional details that you won’t find in their research articles.

Interested solely in research? We’ve got that covered too! Discover top research articles by the author, learn about their academic achievements, awards, and honors, watch their interviews, and memorize some quotes for the much-needed inspiration!

We’ve curated the internet to find the most important information about them. If you have more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

Eric Small, MD, FASCO

Eric Small is a distinguished medical oncologist specializing in urologic oncology, with a focus on prostate cancer. Presently, he serves as the Co-Leader of the UCSF Prostate Cancer Program and Deputy Director and Chief Scientific Officer at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is the President-Elect of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Early Life

Eric J. Small, MD, FASCO, spent his childhood in Mexico City as the son of American parents. He attended an American bilingual high school, learning in both English and Spanish. Small credits his multicultural upbringing for shaping his interest in understanding human diversity. Raised with a strong belief in contributing to humanity, instilled by his father, Small has pursued a career dedicated to making a positive difference.

Career

Dr. Small started his academic journey by earning a Bachelor’s in Biology from Stanford University (1976-1980), followed by a medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (1980-1985). During 1982-1983 Dr. Small took Pathology Residency Training Program at the Case Western Reserve University. Then, he completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (1985-1988) before undertaking a Fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Before his present role, Dr. Small served as the chief of the UCSF Division of Hematology and Oncology for a decade. Dr. Small has been elected as ASCO president for the term spanning 2025 to 2026. He is an active ASCO Board of Directors member and leads four External Advisory Boards for other NCI-Designated Cancer Centers.

Throughout his career, Dr. Small has been deeply committed to advancing gender and ethnic equity in medicine. As chief of the UCSF Division of Hematology and Oncology, he focused attention on gender equity by expanding the faculty and promoting gender parity in leadership roles. Additionally, his commitment to addressing prostate cancer disparities among African American men is the basis of his research and community engagement efforts targeting underserved populations. Notably, Dr. Small co-developed the MERIT (Minority Enrollment and Recruitment into Trials) initiative, aiming to enhance inclusivity in clinical research for underrepresented groups.

Dr. Small’s impact on prostate cancer is profound, evidenced by his extensive publication record of over 430 peer-reviewed articles. His research primarily focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying resistance to systemic therapy in advanced prostate cancer. Notably, his pivotal work led to the development and FDA approval of Abiraterone, an androgen signaling inhibitor (ASI), and apalutamide, a novel ASI.

Furthermore, Dr. Small established a prostate cancer metastasis biopsy program, supported by a $10 million grant, spanning six institutions. This initiative has yielded insights into prostate cancer subtypes and resistance mechanisms, guiding the development of targeted therapeutics and informing clinical trial strategies.

In an interview with OncoLive, Dr. Small attributed his career trajectory to the influence of his mentor, Oscar Ratnoff, stating, “Bad ideas die hard…” This quote now sits on a plaque on his office desk, serving as a big reminder to not take anything for granted.

Apart from medicine, Dr. Small has diverse interests. He discovered a passion for baking during the COVID-19 quarantine, finding joy in creating bread, pastries, and cookies. He often bakes bread on Sunday mornings.
Dr. Small balances his love for baking with running. He ran the New York Marathon on behalf of Fred’s Team, a philanthropy group for pediatric oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, with approximately 5 months of training.

Dr. Small is a devoted cat lover, sharing this passion with his 2 daughters. He adopted several cats from a friend who passed away during the pandemic and finds caring for them soothing.

Eric Small with his two cats, Emme and Micah. Photo taken from www.onclive.com

Eric Small: Elected ASCO President 2025 – 2026

On December 13, 2024, Eric Small has been elected as President of ASCO. Dr. Small will assume the role of President-Elect following the ASCO Annual Business Meeting in Chicago on June 3, 2025.

On this occasion, Dr. Small said, “I am honored to serve ASCO as President to advance its mission of conquering cancer. The next decade will be undoubtedly pivotal for our profession. While we are well into an era of significant advances in diagnostics and therapeutics, cancer care providers are facing increasing administrative burdens and resultant burnout, and access to our tremendous advances is far from equitable, either at home or around the world. I look forward to helping ASCO rise to meet these challenges.”

Honors and Awards

• Biomedical Research Grant, The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbour, ME (1978)
• NIH Research Support Grant, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (1980)
• Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (1984)
• Prostate Cancer Foundation Therapy Consortium (1997)
• Stanford W. and Norman R. Ascherman Endowed Chair (2006 – present)
• Richard L. Schilsky CALGB Award for Clinical Research (2011)
• UCSF Academic Senate Faculty Research Lecture in Clinical Science (2011)
• Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (FASCO; 2015)
• Inductee, OncLive Giants of Cancer Care, Genitourinary Cancer (2022)

Others about Eric Small

“Would be great for ASCO to have Dr Eric Small as President. He already has a global impact and the sky is the limit with ASCO.” Sandip Patel, MD, Professor of Medical Oncology, UC San Diego – X

Interviews with Eric Small

Oncothon: Discussion with Professor Eric Small on mentorship and challenges in cancer treatment – OncoDaily, 2024

M0 Space and The SPARTAN Trial – Grand Rounds in Urology, April 2018

Research Hubs in the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center – Eric Small – UCSF Neurosurgery, June 30, 2022

Eric Small’s interview for the VJ Oncology, February 8, 2018

Changing the Landscape of nmCRPC – The SPARTAN Trial – Eric Small – UroToday, March 6, 2018

A “Crazy” Idea Leads to a Revolution in Prostate Cancer Care – OncLive, December 28, 2022

Top 10 papers by Eric Small*

1. 1. Small EJ, Baron AD, Fippin L, Apodaca D. Ketoconazole retains activity in advanced prostate cancer patients with progression despite flutamide withdrawal. J Urol. 1997 Apr;157(4):1204-7. doi: 10.1016/S0022-5347(01)64924-3. PMID: 9120902.
   2. Small EJ, Fratesi P, Reese DM, Strang G, Laus R, Peshwa MV, Valone FH. Immunotherapy of hormone-refractory prostate cancer with antigen-loaded dendritic cells. J Clin Oncol. 2000 Dec 1;18(23):3894-903. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2000.18.23.3894. PMID: 11099318.
   3. Small EJ, Schellhammer PF, Higano CS, Redfern CH, Nemunaitis JJ, Valone FH, Verjee SS, Jones LA, Hershberg RM. Placebo-controlled phase III trial of immunologic therapy with sipuleucel-T (APC8015) in patients with metastatic, asymptomatic hormone refractory prostate cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2006 Jul 1;24(19):3089-94. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2005.04.5252. PMID: 16809734.
   4. Small EJ, Halabi S, Dawson NA, Stadler WM, Rini BI, Picus J, Gable P, Torti FM, Kaplan E, Vogelzang NJ. Antiandrogen withdrawal alone or in combination with ketoconazole in androgen-independent prostate cancer patients: a phase III trial (CALGB 9583). J Clin Oncol. 2004 Mar 15;22(6):1025-33. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2004.06.037. PMID: 15020604.
   5. Small EJ, Tchekmedyian NS, Rini BI, Fong L, Lowy I, Allison JP. A pilot trial of CTLA-4 blockade with human anti-CTLA-4 in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2007 Mar 15;13(6):1810-5. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-06-2318. PMID: 17363537.
   6. Small EJ, Schellhammer PF, Higano CS, Redfern CH, Nemunaitis JJ, Valone FH, Verjee SS, Jones LA, Hershberg RM. Placebo-controlled phase III trial of immunologic therapy with sipuleucel-T (APC8015) in patients with metastatic, asymptomatic hormone refractory prostate cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2006 Jul 1;24(19):3089-94. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2005.04.5252. PMID: 16809734.
   7. Rini BI, Weinberg V, Fong L, Conry S, Hershberg RM, Small EJ. Combination immunotherapy with prostatic acid phosphatase pulsed antigen-presenting cells (provenge) plus bevacizumab in patients with serologic progression of prostate cancer after definitive local therapy. Cancer. 2006 Jul 1;107(1):67-74. doi: 10.1002/cncr.21956. PMID: 16736512.
   8. Smith MR, Saad F, Chowdhury S, Oudard S, Hadaschik BA, Graff JN, Olmos D, Mainwaring PN, Lee JY, Uemura H, Lopez-Gitlitz A, Trudel GC, Espina BM, Shu Y, Park YC, Rackoff WR, Yu MK, Small EJ; SPARTAN Investigators. Apalutamide Treatment and Metastasis-free Survival in Prostate Cancer. N Engl J Med. 2018 Apr 12;378(15):1408-1418. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1715546. Epub 2018 Feb 8. PMID: 29420164.
   9. Rini BI, Halabi S, Rosenberg JE, Stadler WM, Vaena DA, Ou SS, Archer L, Atkins JN, Picus J, Czaykowski P, Dutcher J, Small EJ. Bevacizumab plus interferon alfa compared with interferon alfa monotherapy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma: CALGB 90206. J Clin Oncol. 2008 Nov 20;26(33):5422-8. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2008.16.9847. Epub 2008 Oct 20. PMID: 18936475; PMCID: PMC2651074.
   10. Rini BI, Halabi S, Rosenberg JE, Stadler WM, Vaena DA, Archer L, Atkins JN, Picus J, Czaykowski P, Dutcher J, Small EJ. Phase III trial of bevacizumab plus interferon alfa versus interferon alfa monotherapy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma: final results of CALGB 90206. J Clin Oncol. 2010 May 1;28(13):2137-43. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2009.26.5561. Epub 2010 Apr 5. PMID: 20368558; PMCID: PMC2860433.

*Most cited papers, where Eric Small is the first or last author according to Google Scholar

Top 3 books by Eric Small

1. Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
2. One hundred years of solitude (Cien Años de Soledad) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
3. Caste: The origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

Top 3 movies by Eric Small

1. Roma

2. Everything, everywhere, all at once

3. Nomadland

Quotes from Eric Small

• “I’ve always felt that making a difference is important. It has informed my career, certainly.”
• “Combination—of being able both to do science and to engage with people and what makes them special and unique—is what ultimately led me to medicine.”
• “From very early on, sort of a multicultural, multilingual environment was what I knew and what I grew up in. I didn’t know it then, but it’s what made me interested in and contributed to my being a people person and being interested in how people are different.”
• “Kindness always gives back!”
• “We all stand on the shoulders of the people before us, and paying it forward is really important.”

View Dr. Eric J. Small’s CV.

How to contact him?

Email: [email protected]
Location: 1825 4th St, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA

References

1. Eric J. Small, MD, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
2. Eric J. Small, MD, FASCO, American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
3. Eric J. Small, MD, FASCO, Elected ASCO President for 2025–2026 Term, The ASCO Post
4. A New Era in Oncology: Dr. Eric J. Small Elected as ASCO President Alongside Distinguished Board Members, (Dec 16, 2023) OncoDaily
5. Seymour C. (Dec 28, 2022), A “Crazy” Idea Leads to a Revolution in Prostate Cancer Care, OncLive
6. Patel. S, (Nov 2 2023,) – X(Twitter)
7. Oncothon: Discussion with Professor Eric Small on mentorship and challenges in pediatric cancer treatment, (April 19, 2024), OncoDaily
8. Small, Eric J. “M0 Space and The SPARTAN Trial” April 18, 2018. Accessed (28.04.2024), Grand Rounds in Urology
9. Research Hubs in the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, (June 30, 2022), UCSF Neurosurgery, YouTube
10. Eric Small, (February 8, 2018) – VJ Oncology
11. Changing the Landscape of nmCRPC – The SPARTAN Trial – Eric Small, (March 6, 2018) – UroToday