Dr. Samuel F. Bakhoum is a physician‑scientist renowned for fundamentally transforming our understanding of chromosomal instability (CIN) in cancer. His breakthrough work demonstrated that chromosome missegregation produces micronuclei that rupture, releasing DNA into the cytosol and chronically activating the cGAS–STING–NF‑κB axis – an inflammatory cascade that actively promotes metastasis. Building on that, his laboratory revealed how CIN triggers durable epigenetic reprogramming of mis-segregated chromosomes and identified mitochondrial reactive oxygen species as a key cause of micronuclear collapse. These discoveries unveiled mechanisms by which CIN fuels genomic heterogeneity, immune evasion, and tumor progression.

Throughout his career and during six years at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – in which he led an independent research program – Dr. Bakhoum authored more than eighty high-impact, senior-author publications tracing the multifaceted biological consequences of CIN. He showed that CIN-mediated STING signaling rewires the tumor microenvironment toward metastasis, an effect that can be therapeutically suppressed using STING inhibitors

In 2019, Dr. Bakhoum co-founded Volastra Therapeutics, where he now serves as Chief Scientific Officer and a member of its Board of Directors. Under his leadership, Volastra has secured over $120 million in financing and is advancing two first-in-class oral KIF18A inhibitors – VLS‑1488 and sovilnesib (formerly AMG-650) – both granted FDA Fast Track status, into clinical trials

Dr. Bakhoum’s career has been recognized with prestigious honors including the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, the Pershing Square Sohn Prize, Blavatnik Award finalist status, BioInnovation Institute & Science Prize, and the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award. He has delivered plenary lectures at major conferences and continues to mentor trainees academically as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine

Dr. Bakhoum’s trajectory, from mechanistic discovery through epigenetics, immunity, and metastasis to therapeutic innovation, epitomizes the physician-scientist model, combining scientific depth with translational vision.