The Elizabeth and Michael Ruane Chair of Endocrine Oncology

Associate Professor of Medicine

Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital

Dr. Lori Wirth is the Elizabeth and Michael Ruane Endowed Chair of Medical Oncology, Medical Director of the Center for Head and Neck Cancers at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and an Associate Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Wirth received her BA from Brown University and her MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed training at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She was on faculty at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute prior to joining Mass General in 2008.  She also holds an appointment at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. 

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Dr. Wirth is a leading authority in advanced thyroid cancer and head and neck oncology, with special expertise in combined modality therapy for cancers of the head and neck, immunotherapy and molecularly-targeted therapies for thyroid cancer. Her research focuses on clinical trials and leveraging translational data to maximize the impact of clinical trial outcomes. 

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As Medical Director of the Center for Head and Neck Cancers, her responsibilities include coordinating and supporting the joint Mass General/Mass Eye and Ear research program in thyroid and head and neck cancers. She also oversees the training of young physicians in head and neck cancer in the MGH residency and fellowship programs and runs the Cancer Center’s busy head and neck multidisciplinary program that brings together the expertise of medical oncology, radiation oncology and head and neck cancer surgery from the Mass Eye and Ear in the center’s mission to provide patients with the most comprehensive and state-of-the-art care available. Dr. Wirth is co-director of the Mass General/Mass Eye and Ear Advanced Thyroid Cancer Clinic, as well. 

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Beyond Mass General, Dr. Wirth is the former Chairperson of the International Thyroid Oncology Group (ITOG), is a founding Executive Committee member of Thyroid International Recommendations Online (TIRO) and sits on a number of other national and international oncology committees, including the American Thyroid Association Guidelines Committee, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s Thyroid Cancer Committee and ABIM’s Medical Oncology Board Examination Committee.