Dr Clayton Yates

Dr. Yates started as a tenure track Assistant Professor at Tuskegee University in the Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research and was promoted through the ranks to Full Professor and Director of Biomedical Research.

Dr. Yates is recognized for his international expert in addressing cancers with African Ancestry, and as a result, was appointed as the John R. Lewis Professor of Pathology, Oncology, and Urology and Director of Health Disparities and Global Health Equity at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Dr. Yates Co-Directs the Transatlantic Prostate Cancer Consortium (CaPTC) which is a Nigerian-based consortium.  In collaboration with Nigerian investigators, Dr. Yates’ lab performed the first whole genome sequencing study of prostate cancer in Nigeran men identifying a novel African Ancestry-specific BRCA1/2 variant. 

Dr. Yates's lab also identified a subtype of Breast cancer called “Quadruple Negative Breast Cancer” (QNBC), which is more frequent in women of African Ancestry. This novel approach used genetic admixture analysis and identified a specific ancestry-associated immune-related signature in pancreatic, breast, and prostate Cancers. Using this signature, his lab was able to identify and develop a novel therapeutic that targets tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) which contribute to increased tumor aggressiveness and therapeutic resistance. This novel therapy was recently licensed to Aurinia Pharma in October 2021 and is poised to enter clinical trials in 2025. Dr. Yates’s lab has been continuously funded by NIH and DoD CMDRP/PCRP for over 17 years.

Dr. Yates is featured on NCI’s website for the NCI Annual Plan & Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2023 which was provided to Congress President Joe Biden and the public. Dr. Yates co-chaired the 2022 American Association for Cancer Research Conference in April 2022 and was the 2022-2023 Chair of the Minorities in Cancer Research Council (MICR) within (AACR), which serves 7,000+ minority cancer-focused scientists.