- Professor of Clinical Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
- Director of the UCLA Gastrointestinal Oncology Program
Dr. Hecht is a Professor of Clinical Medicine in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA School of Medicine. He holds the Carol and Saul Rosenzweig Chair for Cancer Therapies Development and is the Director of the UCLA Gastrointestinal Oncology Program.
Dr. Hecht attended medical school at Eastern Virginia Medical School. He took his internal medicine residency at Northwestern and completed fellowships in gastroenterology research at the University of Chicago, and in gastroenterology and medical oncology at UCLA.
Dr. Hecht is an internationally known clinical and translational researcher in the field of gastrointestinal cancers. He has published widely on the molecular biology, early detection, and treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies. He has lead and is currently directing small trials with novel agents as well as large international trials in GI and pancreatic cancers using gene therapy vectors, growth factor inhibitors and new approaches to immunotherapy. Current ongoing research includes preclinical models of therapy with biological agents, early studies with gene therapy vectors and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and leading phase II and phase III trials with novel agents.