He is notable for leading the development and demonstrating human effectiveness of two first-in-class cancer drugs, an ERK kinase inhibitor (Ulixertinib; BVD-523) and a bacteriolytic immunotherapy (C. novyi-NT). His pioneering efforts in ‘cancer biosurgery’, whereby living organisms are used to microscopically destroy tumor cells while sparing normal tissue, received international acclaim in August 2014 when his paper in Science Translational Medicine described the first use of Clostridium novyi-NT to effectively treat a human patient with a chemotherapy and radiotherapy resistant cancer.