Sapna Syngal, M.D., M.P.H.

Associate Director, Academic Clinical Fellowship Training Program

Dr. Syngal joined the faculty in July 1995, and has joint appointments at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  In her role as Associate Director of the Academic Clinical Track she mentors and guides fellows as they pursue their clinical research interests in the research component of their fellowships.  Dr. Syngal’s research and clinical interests are primarily related to the genetics, screening and primary prevention of gastrointestinal tumors, primarily colorectal cancer. The major focus is on hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes, notable hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) and familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP).  Dr. Syngal has been director the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Familial Gastrointestinal Cancer Program since 1994.  This program identifies patients with personal and family cancer histories that suggest a hereditary susceptibility to gastrointestinal cancer. Dr. Syngal’s group seek to characterize the genetic causes of cancer susceptibility in such families and have tested over 100 families for mutations in the mismatch repair genes, Hmsh2, Hmlh1 and Hmsh6. Dr. Syngal’s research studies have included a decision analysis of the benefits of colonoscopic surveillance and prophylactic colectomy in individuals with mutations in MSH2 and MLH1 and a study of the prevalence of mismatch repair gene mutations in various groups of hereditary colorectal cancer families.  Several additional studies are ongoing in other cohorts at risk for colorectal cancer.  The BWH-DFCI is the only New England site for a multi-center chemoprevention trial of sulindac sulfone in patients with FAP and is directing a nationwide analysis evaluating the effect of type and location of APC gene mutations on clinical APC phenotypes as well as their effects on response to sulindac sulfone.  Dr. Syngal is also spearheading a study of the prevalence of the I1307K APC mutation in Ashkenazi Jewish individuals with sporadic colorectal polyps and carcinomas.  This study has accrued over 350 patients who have consented to provide a cheek swab or blood specimen for genetic analysis, family history and medical record data.