Our Work
The McFadden Lab was established in January 2015 with support from the NCI, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), and the UTSW Disease-Oriented Clinical Scholar award.
The lab uses genetic and chemical approaches to identify new therapeutic targets for cancer, including small cell lung cancer, thyroid cancer, and Ewing sarcoma.
Meet the PI

David McFadden, M.D., Ph.D.
David is a native Texan and earned his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at UT Southwestern. He then completed post-graduate medical training at Harvard Medical School (HMS) with an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Endocrinology Fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Following fellowship, he stayed at MGH and HMS as junior faculty and was a member of the Center for Endocrine Tumors and a staff physician in the Thyroid Associates and Endocrine Tumor Genetics clinics.
After completing postdoctoral work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he returned to UT Southwestern as an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Biochemistry in 2015. As a physician, David’s clinical effort lies in the treatment of patients with thyroid cancer, especially those with clinically challenging or advanced disease. David was elected into the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2022.
David is an avid sports fan and enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, fly fishing for striped bass off the coast of Cape Cod, running and various recreational sports, and tasting hoppy ales from around the nation.
Current Lab Members
Tina Vandiver
Lab Manager

Xin Bai
Staff Scientist

Juanma Povedano Selfa
Postdoctoral Fellow

Alex Nguyen
Research Technician

Kelvin Mun
Research Technician
Celia de la Calle Arregui
Postdoctoral Fellow
Christina Troll
Graduate Student

Shuai Wang
Staff Scientist

Qianqian Zhuang
Postdoctoral Fellow

Lab Alumni
Vicky Li
MSTP Student

James McGinnis
Graduate Student
Where are they now:
Senior Scientist, Bonito Biosciences

Anderson Frank
Graduate Student
Where are they now:
Postdoctoral Fellow - Biggins Lab at Fred Hutch Cancer Center

Alberto Bremauntz Enriquez
MSTP Student
Where are they now:
Resident Physician, Psychiatry

Joel Liou
Research Technician
Where are they now:
Senior Research Associate, PacBio

Ashwin Srivatsav
UTD Green Fellow
Where are they now:
Physician, Pediatrics
MD, Baylor College of Medicine, 2021

Irene Kim
Research Technician
