Hope Rugo
Breast cancer oncologist and clinical trialist, long at UCSF, who helped run BOLERO-2 and studied how to manage the side effects of mTOR inhibitors such as everolimus
Division Chief, Breast Medical Oncology, City of Hope (from 2025) · Professor of Medicine and Director, Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center · fellowship in hematology and oncology, UCSF (1990) · MD, University of Pennsylvania (1984)
Portrait: COR2ED
BOLERO-2 was a phase 3 trial in 724 postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive advanced breast cancer whose disease had grown despite an aromatase inhibitor, a standard hormone therapy. Resistance to hormone therapy is linked to mTOR activation, so the trial added everolimus, an mTOR-blocking drug related to rapamycin, to the hormone drug exemestane. In the first report (2012) the time before the cancer grew again, called progression-free survival, rose from 4.1 to 10.6 months by central review, and the combination was approved by the FDA. The final 2014 analysis found that overall survival was longer on paper (31.0 versus 26.6 months) but the difference was not statistically significant. This is direct evidence in people, for one type of advanced cancer.
Hope Rugo is a co-author of both reports. She was also first author of a 2014 BOLERO-2 analysis of when everolimus side effects appear and how long they last. The most common one is stomatitis, painful mouth sores, and her UCSF group later tested a steroid mouthwash to prevent it.
Rugo studied chemistry at Tufts University and medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (MD 1984). She trained in internal medicine and in hematology and oncology at UCSF, with a research fellowship in immunology at Stanford. At UCSF she became Professor of Medicine and Director of Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education. Her work combines new targeted drugs and immunotherapy with standard treatment for early and advanced breast cancer, and on reducing side effects, for example scalp cooling to prevent hair loss during chemotherapy. In 2025 she was named Division Chief of Breast Medical Oncology at City of Hope.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | H | Everolimus in postmenopausal hormone-receptor-positive advanced breast cancer (BOLERO-2) BAS2012 Co-author of the BOLERO-2 primary report. |
| 2014 | H | Everolimus plus exemestane for hormone-receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2-negative advanced breast cancer: overall survival results from BOLERO-2† PIC2014 Co-author of the final overall-survival report of BOLERO-2. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 14
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Hope Rugo.
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- Alejandra Perez 2 shared studies Breast cancer oncologist in South Florida who enrolled patients in BOLERO-2, the trial that brought the mTOR inhibitor everolimus into breast cancer treatment
- Fabienne Lebrun 2 shared studies Medical oncologist at the Institut Jules Bordet in Brussels and a co-author of the BOLERO-2 trial reports that brought the mTOR inhibitor everolimus into breast cancer care
- Gabriel N. Hortobagyi 2 shared studies Breast cancer physician-scientist and senior author of BOLERO-2, the phase 3 trial that showed adding the mTOR inhibitor everolimus improves outcomes in advanced hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer
- Ines Deleu 2 shared studies Medical oncologist in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, who enrolled patients in international breast cancer drug trials, including the BOLERO-2 trial of everolimus
- José Baselga 2 shared studies Breast cancer oncologist who led the BOLERO-2 trial showing that the mTOR inhibitor everolimus added to hormone therapy lengthens progression-free survival
- Kathleen Pritchard 2 shared studies Breast cancer medical oncologist at Sunnybrook in Toronto, professor emerita at the University of Toronto and long-time leader of breast cancer trials, co-author of the BOLERO-2 everolimus trial
- Mario Campone 2 shared studies Breast cancer oncologist and general director of the Institut de Cancérologie de l'Ouest, a co-investigator on the BOLERO-2 trial that brought everolimus into breast cancer care
- Martine J. Piccart 2 shared studies Breast cancer oncologist who co-founded the Breast International Group and has led or co-led major academic trials such as HERA, MINDACT and ALTTO.
- Michael Gnant 2 shared studies Surgical oncologist and breast cancer trialist, Professor of Surgery at the Medical University of Vienna and President of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group, and a co-author of BOLERO-2, the trial that brought the mTOR inhibitor everolimus into breast cancer treatment
- Shinzaburo Noguchi 2 shared studies Breast cancer surgeon and researcher at Osaka University and a co-investigator of BOLERO-2, the trial that brought the mTOR inhibitor everolimus into breast cancer treatment
- Yoshinori Ito 2 shared studies Breast medical oncologist at the Cancer Institute Hospital in Tokyo and a co-investigator of BOLERO-2, the trial that brought the mTOR inhibitor everolimus into breast cancer treatment
- David Lebwohl Medical oncologist and drug developer who led the clinical development of everolimus (Afinitor) at Novartis through approvals in several cancers and tuberous sclerosis, and later served as Chief Medical Officer of the gene-editing company Intellia Therapeutics
- Howard A Burris Medical oncologist who led the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville as President and Chief Medical Officer, has run hundreds of early-phase cancer drug trials, including the first trial of the mTORC1-selective inhibitor RMC-5552, and was ASCO President in 2019–2020
- Tarek Sahmoud Physician and epidemiologist who worked as a clinical program head in Novartis oncology drug development during the everolimus trials, and later as chief medical officer at several cancer drug companies
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