Robert Kortum M.D., Ph.D.

Education

Ph.D. - University of Nebraska Medical School, 2004
M.D. - University of Nebraska Medical School, 2006

Biography

Dr. Rob Kortum is an Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Therapeutics and Director of the MD-PhD Program at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU). He earned his M.D. and Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, studying how the molecular scaffold KSR1 controls RAS-dependent signaling with Dr. Robert Lewis. He completed a Pharmacology Research and Training (PRAT) postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH with Dr. Lawrence Samelson, investigating RAS activation in T-cell development, and subsequently served as a staff scientist with Dr. Deborah Morrison at NCI Frederick, where he received an NCI Director’s Award for developing drug screening assays targeting the RAS/RAF interaction.

Since joining the USU faculty in 2015, Dr. Kortum’s research group has focused on defining mechanisms of therapeutic resistance and identifying combination strategies to enhance the efficacy of targeted therapies in RTK/RAS pathway-mutated cancers. His lab’s work is supported by funding from the CDMRP, NCI, and Boehringer Ingelheim, and he has authored over 40 peer-reviewed publications on RAS signaling, including senior-author papers in Cancer Research, PNAS, and Science Signaling.

In addition to leading the USU MD-PhD Program, Dr. Kortum serves on the Steering Committee for the APOLLO NCI/DoD/VA Network Proteogenomics Consortium, as Associate Director of the PRCRP Convergent Science Virtual Cancer Center (CSVCC), and on Scientific Review Committee for the Murtha Cancer Center.

Career Highlights: Positions, Projects, Deployments, Awards and Additional Publications

2016 – Appointed Director, USU MD-PhD Program

2017 - CDMRP Lung Cancer Research Program Career Development Award

2020 - USU Henry C. Wu Award for Excellence in Basic Science Research (awarded for 2018 Science Signaling study on SOS2)

2022 - NCI R01 and R21 Awards

2023 - PNAS - 'SOS1 and KSR1 modulate MEK inhibitor responsiveness to target resistant cell populations based on PI3K and KRAS mutation status'

2024 – Named Associate Director, CDMRP PRCRP Convergent Science Virtual Cancer Center (CSVCC)

2025 - Cancer Research - 'SOS1 Inhibition Enhances the Efficacy of KRASG12C Inhibitors and Delays Resistance in lung adenocarcinoma'

2025 - CDMRP Lung Cancer Research Program IDEA Development Award

2026 – Appointed Director, USU/APOLLO Organoid Laboratory

2026 - Science Signaling - 'HRAS Promotes Mutant NRAS-Driven Transformation with Codon and Allele Specificity'

Representative Bibliography

Lee H, Hughes JM, LaMorte JP, Finniff BA, Binette P, Gunasekara SK, Covas A, Wall VE, Esposito D, Wilkerson MD, Yohe ME, and and Kortum RL (2026). HRAS Promotes Mutant NRAS-Driven Transformation with Codon and Allele Specificity. Science Signaling, 19:eaj6209. PMID: 42709866

Daley BR, Theard PL, Hughes JM, Finniff BA, Hofmann MA, Kostyrko K, Schenk RL, Vieira HM, Askew JW, Lewis RE, and Kortum RL (2025). SOS1 inhibition targets the evolution of osimertinib resistance to generate a durable response in EGFR-mutated lung cancer. Science Signaling, 18:aea2788. PMID: 41289356

Sealover NE, Finniff BA, Hughes JM, Sheffels E, Lee H, LaMorte JP, Gambhir V, Beckley Z, Linke A, Wilkerson MD, Yohe ME, and Kortum RL (2025). Wild-type RAS signaling is an essential therapeutic target in RAS-mutated cancers. Science Signaling, 18:eadx5186. PMID:40956876

Daley BR, Sealover NE, Finniff BA, Hughes JM, Sheffels E, Gerlach D, Hofmann MH, Kostyrko K, LaMorte JP, Linke AJ, Beckley Z, Frank AM, Lewis RE, Wilkerson MD, Dalgard CL, and Kortum RL (2025). SOS1 Inhibition Enhances the Efficacy of KRASG12C Inhibitors and Delays Resistance in lung adenocarcinoma. Cancer Research, 85: 118-133. PMID:39437166

Sealover NE, Hughes JM, Theard PL, Chatterjee D, Linke AJ, Finniff BA, Daley BR, Lewis RE, and Kortum RL (2024). Protocol for modeling acquired resistance to targeted therapeutics in adherent and suspension cancer cell lianes via in situ resistance assay. STAR Protocols, 5:103361. PMID: 39369385

Sealover NE, Theard PT, Linke AJ, Hughes JM, Daley BR, and Kortum RL (2024). In situ modeling of acquired resistance to RTK/RAS pathway targeted therapies. iScience, 27:108711. PMID:38226159

Theard PT, Linke AJ, Sealover NE,, Daley BR, Yang J, Cox K, and Kortum RL (2024). SOS2 modulates the threshold of EGFR signaling to regulate osimertinib efficacy and resistance in lung adenocarcinoma. Molecular Oncology, 18:641-661. PMID:38073064

Daley BR, Vieira HM, Rao C, Hughes JM, Huisman DH, Chatterjee D, Sealover NE, Cox K, Askew JW, Beckley ZM, Svoboda RA, Fisher KW, Lewis RE, and Kortum RL (2023). SOS1 and KSR1 modulate MEK inhibitor responsiveness to target resistant cell populations based on PI3K and KRAS mutation status. PNAS, 120:e2313137120. PMID:37972068

Theard PT, Sheffels E, Sealover NE, Linke AJ, Pratico DJ and Kortum RL (2020). Marked synergy by vertical inhibition of EGFR signaling in NSCLC spheroids shows SOS1 is a therapeutic target in EGFR-mutated cancer. eLife, 9:e58204.

Sheffels E, Sealover NE, Wang C, Kim DH, Vazirani IA, Lee E, Tyrell E, Morrison DK, Luo J, and Kortum RL (2018). Oncogenic Ras isoforms show a hierarchical requirement for SOS2 to drive transformation. Science Signaling, 11:eaar8371.