Dr. Katherine Carolyn Wai, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Wai graduated with a BS in Chemical Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, before earning her medical degree from the UCSF School of Medicine. She remained at UCSF to complete her residency training in Otolaryngology, during which she also earned a certificate from the UCSF Advanced Training in Clinical Research program through the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She subsequently completed an advanced fellowship in Head and Neck Surgical Oncology and Microvascular Reconstruction at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Her clinical practice specializes in Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, focusing on the comprehensive surgical management of benign and malignant head and neck conditions, including oral cavity and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas, salivary gland neoplasms, and advanced skin cancers.
Dr. Wai’s translational and clinical research centers heavily on optimizing outcomes for head and neck cancer patients and exploring the underlying immunologic changes for head and neck cancer and oral dysplasia. Her work explores predictive biomarkers for predicting response to immunotherapy and the spatial biology of the tumor microenvironment in head and neck tumors.
Dr. Wai’s translational and clinical research centers heavily on optimizing outcomes for head and neck cancer patients and exploring the underlying immunologic changes for head and neck cancer and oral dysplasia. Her work explores predictive biomarkers for predicting response to immunotherapy and the spatial biology of the tumor microenvironment in head and neck tumors.