Dr. Jose Pacheco, received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine in 2010. He went on to complete an Internal Medicine residency at the Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital/St. Louis Children’s Hospital Consortium, followed by a fellowship in Medical Oncology and Hematology at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Pacheco previously worked at the University of Colorado Anschutz Cancer Center for 5 years where he specialized in phase I clinical trials and thoracic oncology.  Subsequently, he was in private practice for 3 years before deciding to join START Mountain Region and focus once again on phase I clinical trials research.  While he treats all tumor types, he has particular expertise in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), small cell lung cancer, thymomas, thymic carcinomas and mesothelioma.  While at the University of Colorado he served as the lead oncologist on one of the largest adrenal cancer programs in the country and was a local expert for NUT midline carcinomas.

During his career, he has led numerous investigator-initiated trials and served as site principal investigator for over 25 cooperative group and industry sponsored studies. He has been a principal investigator and author on several trials that have led to new FDA approvals (e.g., trastuzumab deruxtecan for Her2 mutant NSCLC, trastuzumab deruxtecan for Her2 overexpressing tumors and adagrasib for KRAS G12C mutant NSCLC). His research has been supported by competitive funding from the NIH, Cancer League of Colorado, and multiple pharmaceutical sponsors, focusing on novel targeted therapies, immunotherapy combinations, antibody drug conjugates and translational studies. Dr. Pacheco has held multiple single-patient INDs and has a strong interest in using precision oncology to improve the lives of his patients. 

He has presented at local, national and international meetings (e.g., the Targeted Therapies in Lung Cancer meeting, ASCO Annual Meeting, and the World Conference on Lung Cancer to name a few). He is board certified in Medical Oncology and a member of ASCO.