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Education

  • University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health - MD
  • Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA - Residency in Internal Medicine
  • The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX – Fellowship in Medical Oncology
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison – PhD in Cellular & Molecular Biology

Professional Activities

Dr. Ryan Denu is a physician-scientist and faculty member in the Division of Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care within the Department of Medicine. He has received numerous awards for clinical and translational research, including the Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award, Connective Tissue Oncology Society Young Investigator Award, National Leiomyosarcoma Foundation Early Career Award, and multiple ASCO Merit Awards. His research has been supported by the Department of Defense, the National Cancer Institute, and sarcoma-focused SPORE programs.

Dr. Denu is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Association for Cancer Research, and Connective Tissue Oncology Society. He has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and has presented his work at national and international meetings including ASCO, CTOS, and other major oncology and cancer research conferences.

Clinical Specialties

Dr. Denu’s clinical practice focuses on sarcomas.

Research Interests

View Dr. Ryan Denu’s publications on NCBI My Bibliography

Dr. Denu's research focuses on understanding how epigenetic dysregulation and cellular plasticity drive sarcoma development, progression, and therapeutic resistance. His laboratory studies how alterations in chromatin regulation and transcriptional programs create distinct cellular states within sarcomas.

A major goal of his research is to define the epigenetic mechanisms that control sarcoma cell-state plasticity and to identify therapeutic vulnerabilities associated with these states. His work integrates single-cell and spatial genomic and epigenomic approaches with functional studies to understand how tumor cell states interact with the immune microenvironment and influence clinical outcomes. Ultimately, Dr. Denu's research seeks to translate insights from sarcoma biology into biomarkers and new therapeutic strategies that can improve outcomes for patients with these rare and often treatment-resistant cancers.

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