Jun Zhang, MD, PhD

Jun Zhang, MD, PhD

Thoracic Oncology | Translational Cancer Research | Microbiota and Immunity

 

Jun Zhang, MD, PhD, is an internationally recognized physician-scientist and academic leader in thoracic oncology and translational cancer research. He serves as the Petrakis Endowed Chair and Vice President of oncology research at the OSF HealthCare Cancer Institute, where he leads strategic scientific initiatives and advances precision oncology across the enterprise. He is also professor at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and adjunct professor at the Translational Genomics Research Institute.

Dr. Zhang completed his medical training at the Xiangya School of Medicine, earned a PhD in Cancer Biology from Louisiana State University, and pursued postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School and the University of California San Francisco, followed by a hematology/oncology fellowship at Emory University School of Medicine. His career integrates foundational discovery with clinical translation, exemplified by his leadership in developing innovative translational research and investigator-initiated trials, and advancing microbiota-informed cancer therapeutics.

He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, including many in high-impact journals such as Cancer Cell, Nature Communications, Clinical Cancer Research, JAMA Oncology, Molecular Cancer, Annals of Oncology, and The New England Journal of Medicine. A dedicated member of the global oncology community, Dr. Zhang contributes to AACR, ASCO, ESMO, IASLC, and Sigma Xi. He is frequently invited to serve as a peer reviewer for premier journals—including Nature Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and The New England Journal of Medicine—as well as for major funding agencies such as the NIH and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Dr. Zhang’s research program centers on three interconnected pillars: The role of the microbiota and its extracellular vesicles in lung cancer biology and immunotherapy; mechanisms of therapeutic resistance and the identification of cancer vulnerabilities for innovative treatment strategies; and the design of novel translational and interventional studies for thoracic malignancies. His work continues to shape emerging ideas at the interface of tumor immunology, microbiome science and precision medicine.

Selected Publications

Gut commensal Bifidobacterium-derived extracellular vesicles modulate the therapeutic effects of anti–PD-1 in lung cancer. Nature Communications, 16(1), Article 3500. Preet, R., Islam, M. A., Shim, J., Rajendran, G., Mitra, A., Vishwakarma, V., Kutz, C., Chowdhury, S., Pathak, H., Dai, Q., Sun, W., Madan, R., Zhong, C., Markiewicz, M. A., & Zhang, J. (2025).

Adagrasib versus docetaxel in KRAS(G12C)-mutated non–small-cell lung cancer (KRYSTAL-12): A randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial. The Lancet, 406(10503), 615–626. Barlesi, F., Yao, W., Duruisseaux, M., Doucet, L., Martínez, A. A., Gregorc, V., Juan-Vidal, O., Lu, S., De Bondt, C., de Marinis, F., Linardou, H., Kim, Y. C., Jotte, R., Felip, E., Lo Russo, G., Reck, M., McKenzie, M. F., Yang, W., Meade, J. N., … Mok, T. S. K. (2025). 

Anti-tumor efficacy of HRS-4642 and its potential combination with proteasome inhibition in KRAS G12D-mutant cancer. Cancer Cell, 42(7), 1286–1300.e8. Zhou, C., Li, C., Luo, L., Li, X., Jia, K., He, N., Mao, S., Wang, W., Shao, C., Liu, X., Huang, K., Yu, Y., Cai, X., Chen, Y., Dai, Z., Li, W., Yu, J., Li, J., Shen, F., … Ren, S. (2024).

Berzosertib plus topotecan vs topotecan alone in patients with relapsed small cell lung cancer: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Oncology, 9(12), 1669–1677. Takahashi, N., Hao, Z., Villaruz, L., Zhang, J., Ruiz, J., Petty, W. J., Mamdani, H., Riess, J. W., Nieva, J., Pacheco, J. M., Fuld, A. D., Shum, E., Chauhan, A., Nichols, S., Shimellis, H., McGlone, J., Sciuto, L., Pinkiert, D., Graham, C., … Thomas, A. (2023).

Adagrasib in non–small-cell lung cancer harboring a KRAS(G12C) mutation. New England Journal of Medicine, 387(2), 120–131. Jänne, P. A., Riely, G. J., Gadgeel, S. M., Heist, R. S., Ou, S. I., Pacheco, J. M., Johnson, M. L., Sabari, J. K., Leventakos, K., Yau, E., Bazhenova, L., Negrao, M. V., Pennell, N. A., Zhang, J., Anderes, K., Der-Torossia, H., Kheoh, T., Velastegui, K., Yan, X., … Spira, A. I. (2022). 

Characterization of evolution trajectory and immune profiling of brain metastasis in lung adenocarcinoma. NPJ Precision Oncology, 5(1), Article 6. Jiang, T., Yan, Y., Zhou, K., Su, C., Ren, S., Li, N., Hou, L., Gui, X., Zhu, W., Zhang, H., Lin, J., Zhang, J., & Zhou, C. (2021). 

Small molecule KRAS agonist for mutant KRAS cancer therapy. Molecular Cancer, 19(1), Article 93. Xu, K., Park, D., Magis, A. T., Zhang, J., Zhou, W., Sica, G. L., Ramalingam, S. S., Curran, W. J., & Deng, X. (2020). 

Metadherin enhances vulnerability of cancer cells to ferroptosis. Cell Death & Disease, 10(10), Article 682. Bi, J., Yang, S., Li, L., Dai, Q., Borcherding, N., Wagner, B. A., Buettner, G. R., Spitz, D. R., Leslie, K. K., Zhang, J., & Meng, X. (2019). 

Atezolizumab after nivolumab-induced inflammatory polyarthritis: Can anti–PD-L1 immunotherapy be administered after anti–PD-1-related immune toxicities? Journal of Thoracic Oncology, 13(6), e102–e103. Swami, U., Lenert, P., Furqan, M., Abu Hejleh, T., Clamon, G., & Zhang, J. (2018). 

Modulation of Bax and mTOR for cancer therapeutics. Cancer Research, 77(11), 3001–3012. Li, R., Ding, C., Zhang, J., Xie, M., Park, D., Ding, Y., Chen, G., Zhang, G., Gilbert-Ross, M., Zhou, W., Marcus, A. I., Sun, S. Y., Chen, Z. G., Sica, G. L., Ramalingam, S. S., Magis, A. T., Fu, H., Khuri, F. R., Curran, W. J., … Deng, X. (2017). Modulation of Bax and mTOR for cancer therapeutics. Cancer Research, 77(11), 3001–3012.

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View a complete list of Dr. Zhang’s published work on PubMed.

OSF HealthCare Provider Profile

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