Bagegni Receives National Cancer Institute Award

Nusayba A. Bagegni, MD, an associate professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been awarded a 2024 Early Career Cancer Clinical Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

The award, given to 10 researchers nationally, recognizes outstanding clinical investigators at NCI-designated cancer centers who demonstrate a commitment to academic clinical research, including NCI-funded clinical trials. To be eligible, researchers must be within six years of their initial academic appointment.

“A pool of skilled cancer researchers and clinician-scientists is necessary for the cancer research field to flourish,” according to the NCI. “The shift from junior investigator to established investigator status is crucial in this process.”

A board-certified medical oncologist, Bagegni treats patients with breast cancer at Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine.

She joined the faculty in 2018 after earning her medical degree with research distinction from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Bagegni completed postgraduate training and subspecialty training in hematology/oncology at WashU Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, where she served as co-chief fellow for two years.

Bagegni currently serves as associate medical director of clinical research in the Division of Oncology and the breast cancer clinical trials portfolio leader at WashU Medicine and Siteman. She has led several clinical trials in early-stage and advanced breast cancer and has a particular research interest in aggressive breast cancer subtypes, breast cancer in younger women, metastatic breast cancer and developmental therapeutics.