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
  Kelvin Mun
Research Technician
Celia de la Calle Arregui
Postdoctoral Fellow
Shuai Wang
Staff Scientist
  Qianqian Zhuang
Postdoctoral Fellow
  Christina Troll
Graduate Student
  Kristin Jackson
Research Technician
  Danielle Sherry
Graduate Student
  Lab Alumni
Juanma Povedano Selfa
Postdoctoral Fellow
Where are they now:
Assistant Professor, UT Southwestern -Internal Medicine/Biochemistry
  Alex Nguyen
Research Technician
Where are they now:
Research Technician, UT Southwestern - Povedano Selfa Lab
  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, Fred Hutch Cancer Center - Biggins Lab
  Alberto Bremauntz Enriquez
MSTP Student
Where are they now:
Resident Physician, UT Southwestern - Psychiatry
  Joel Liou
Research Technician
Where are they now:
Senior Research Associate, PacBio
  Ashwin Srivatsav
UTD Green Fellow
Where are they now:
Physician, Baylor College of Medicine - Pediatrics
  Irene Kim
Research Technician