TIME 100 HEALTH - Pioneers

‘The bottom line is everyone showed benefit.’

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ANDREA CERCEK MOBILIZING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

The latest efforts in cancer therapy harness the body's immune system but have generally been used together with traditional strategies like surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation. Until now.

Dr. Andrea Cercek, section head of colorectal cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, is pioneering a new therapy using immunotherapy drugs alone to help patients with certain types of cancer avoid surgery. Last year, she announced stunning results from a small study of people with a specific rectal cancer; after six months of infusions of dostarlimab, a drug that allows immune cells to target cancer cells, none of the patients showed detectable tumors. In 2025, Cercek expanded to patients with other cancers-in the esophagus, colon, stomach, urothelial tissue, small bowel, and endometrium. In that trial, over 90% of patients showed no detectable signs of cancer after two years. "That's an exciting number," she says. Even those who did not reach a complete response saw their tumors shrink. "The bottom line is everyone showed benefit."

Cercek will follow the patients to see if they live longer than those who get surgery. She suspects that starting treatment as early as possible will give patients the best outcome. "This type of therapy can lead to significant, complete clinical responses, and significant improvement in the quality of life of patients," she says. -Alice Park

DEAN ORNISH SLOWING DOWN DISEASE NATURALLY