Dr. Nehal Lakhani serves as the Director of Clinical research at START-Midwest and is a Medical Oncologist based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He completed his medical training at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India in 2000. Following the completion of his medical training, he pursued a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences focusing on Pharmacokinetics and early phase drug development of oncology drugs at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD. He was also a Fogarty Fellow at the National Institutes of Health between the years 2001 through 2005. He subsequently pursued training in Internal Medicine at Michigan State University and completed a Medical Oncology/Hematology fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. He has also served as the National Cancer Institute – FDA Interagency Oncology Task Force Fellow for two years, which gave him the opportunity to work in the Division of Hematology/Oncology Products at the FDA and reviewed oncology drug applications submitted by pharmaceutical sponsors.

His clinical research interests include early phase drug development and clinical pharmacology trials for solid tumor malignancies. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, and Hematology. He has been involved in the development of several new anticancer therapies including immunotherapy agents, antibody drug conjugates, and targeted therapies. Dr. Lakhani has co-authored several peer reviewed publications in oncology drug development and is a reviewer of several oncology journals.