Lauren Averett Byers has been awarded the 2025 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Medicine

Lauren Averett Byers was honored for Groundbreaking Contributions to Small Cell Lung Cancer Research and Personalized Therapies

Lauren Averett Byers, M.D., a professor of Thoracic/Head & Neck Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, has been awarded the 2025 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Medicine by the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology (TAMEST).

This award acknowledges her groundbreaking discoveries and contributions to developing novel therapeutic strategies for small cell lung cancer (SCLC), paving the way for personalized treatments in even the most challenging cancer cases.

The O’Donnell Awards highlight exceptional Texas researchers who demonstrate the critical roles of science and technology in society, upholding the highest standards of professional performance, creativity, and innovation.

The awards are presented annually in five categories, with Byers set to be honored at the TAMEST Annual Conference and the 2025 O’Donnell Awards ceremony in February in Houston.

“Receiving the O’Donnell Award is a distinct honor, and I am hopeful this recognition will propel further research in small cell lung cancer.

I’m especially grateful to my team of exceptional scientists and clinicians, who have worked together to translate our research findings to address unmet needs by providing new, more personalized treatment options for our patients,” – said Lauren Averett Byers.

Recognized internationally as an expert in SCLC, Byers led a team of researchers in developing the first comprehensive framework to classify the disease into four distinct subtypes based on gene expression.

In a study published in Cancer Cell, her team identified potential therapeutic targets for each SCLC subtype. This subtyping approach resulted in several seminal publications that identify which patients are most likely to respond to immunotherapy.

“Dr. Byers is an established leader in the field and a uniquely gifted scientist and physician. She is poised to continue to make important contributions to lung cancer research and the treatment of cancer, broadly.

This recognition underscores her commitment to rigorous, exemplary science – an essential hallmark of our efforts to advance research and develop powerful new treatments for our patients,” – said Giulio Draetta, M.D., Ph.D., chief scientific officer at MD Anderson.

Education

Byers received her B.A. in molecular biology from Princeton University in 1998 and her M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in 2003. She also earned an M.S. in patient-based research from The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in 2009.

As a medical student, Byers participated in the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)-National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Scholars (Cloister) Program, joining the lab of Louis Staudt, M.D., Ph.D., at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). While there, Byers was part of a team pioneering early gene expression profiling, leading to the identification of molecularly distinct cancer subtypes.

Career

As a physician-scientist, Byers focuses her research on high-throughput molecular profiling to uncover new therapeutic targets, predictive biomarkers, and resistance mechanisms in SCLC.

Her findings have been rapidly advanced into clinical trials, and she leads a multidisciplinary translational research team that utilizes tumors and liquid biopsies from lung cancer patients to expedite the development of personalized treatments and biomarkers.

“Dr. Byers is an outstanding medical oncologist and translational scientist, and we have already seen her work change standards of care for patients with small cell lung cancer.

We celebrate her contributions to the field of cancer research, as she excels in both translating fundamental research findings and in mentoring the next generation of research leaders,” – said nominator James P. Allison, Ph.D., regental professor and chair of Immunology and director of the James P. Allison Institute at MD Anderson.

Byers has spearheaded numerous clinical trials for innovative treatments, including the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for SCLC patients.

Her work in SCLC was recognized by a National Cancer Institute report to the U.S. Congress as one of the most impactful advances in the last decade.

In 2006 she joined MD Anderson as a clinical fellow and later became an advanced scholar fellow. Since then, Byers has received numerous accolades from peers, funding agencies, and scientific journals for her contributions to the field.

She co-leads several translational and clinical lung cancer research programs at MD Anderson and serves as co-principal investigator of the NIH/NCI SCLC Consortium Coordinating Center.

Byers is also an active mentor for undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and clinical fellows, with her mentees earning awards, grants, and faculty appointments at leading institutions, including MD Anderson.