David Drew

Dr. David A. Drew is the Director of the Biobanking in the CTEU and Instructor of Investigation within the Division of Gastroenterology at MGH and an Instructor of Medicine at HMS.

His long-term research has focused on the interception and prevention of gastrointestinal disorders, primarily gastrointestinal cancers, through chemoprevention, lifestyle modification, or enhanced endoscopic screening methods. Recently, this interest has been focused on the molecular mechanisms, particularly those influenced by the gut microbiome, driving gastrointestinal disease and cancer, and the mechanisms by which pharmacologic agents, such as aspirin, prevent the development of GI disorders. Broadly, his training has provided him a strong foundation in basic and translational research, the gut microbiome, colorectal carcinogenesis, precision prevention, epidemiology/biostatistics, and cancer genetics. As the Director of Biobanking for the CTEU, he seeks to build robust biospecimen repositories that are paired with high-resolution metadata to build truly translational platforms derived from clinical research studies. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he helped lead the COVID Symptom Study’s implementation in the U.S. and establish the Coronavirus Pandemic Epidemiology (COPE) consortium. He is a member of the Stand Up To Cancer Gastric Cancer Interception team and is independently funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders, and the American Gastroenterological Association,

Dr. Drew earned a PhD in Biomedical Science from the University of Connecticut and also holds a B.S. in Biochemistry/Biophysics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Key Publications

Effect of Low-dose and Standard-dose Aspirin on PGE2 Biosynthesis Among Individuals with Colorectal Adenomas: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Drew DA, Schuck MM, Magicheva-Gupta MV, Stewart KO, Gilpin KK, Miller P, Parziale MP, Pond EN, Takacsi-Nagy O, Zerjav DC, Chin SM, Mackinnon Krems J, Meixell D, Joshi AD, Ma W, Colizzo FP, Carolan PJ, Nishioka NS, Staller K, Richter JM, Khalili H, Gala MK, Garber JJ, Chung DC, Yarze JC, Zukerberg L, Petrucci G, Rocca B, Patrono C, Milne GL, Wang M, Chan AT.Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2020 Jul 27. doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-20-0216. Online ahead of print.PMID: 32718943

Rapid implementation of mobile technology for real-time epidemiology of COVID-19. Drew DA, Nguyen LH, Steves CJ, Menni C, Freydin M, Varsavsky T, Sudre CH, Cardoso MJ, Ourselin S, Wolf J, Spector TD, Chan AT; COPE Consortium.Science. 2020 Jun 19;368(6497):1362-1367. doi: 10.1126/science.abc0473. Epub 2020 May 5.PMID: 32371477

Aspirin and colorectal cancer: the promise of precision chemoprevention. Drew DA, Cao Y, Chan AT.Nat Rev Cancer. 2016 Mar;16(3):173-86. doi: 10.1038/nrc.2016.4. Epub 2016 Feb 12.PMID: 26868177