Celina Graciela Kleer, MD

Dr. Kleer is the Harold A. Oberman Collegiate Professor of Pathology. She received her MD from the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine in Argentina in 1993. After residency training in Anatomic and Clinical pathology at the Mayo Clinic and at the University of Michigan, she served as a Surgical and Breast Pathology fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Harold Oberman. In 1999 she joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2005, and to full Professor with tenure in 2011. She is the co-Director of the Breast Pathology Program at the Department of Pathology and has developed the Breast Pathology Subspecialty Fellowship in 2002, one of the first in the US. Dr. Kleer is the Principal Investigator of a federally funded research laboratory in the Rogel Cancer Center working to understand mechanisms of breast cancer invasion and metastasis, and to develop useful breast tissue-based biomarkers. Her work bridges basic science and clinical applications. Dr. Kleer is a nationally and internationally recognized as a leader in both the basic and clinical study of breast cancer, and has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications. Her research has earned her two decades of uninterrupted grant support from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Department of Defense. She has served on multiple NIH/NCI study sections.

Dr. Kleer is a dedicated mentor to trainees of all levels and backgrounds, many of whom have gone on to highly successful academic careers. She serves on the editorial boards of several journals and has been elected to leadership positions in renowned pathology and breast cancer research societies. She is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the University of Michigan League of Research Excellence. Dr. Kleer is the recipient of the 2019 AACR Outstanding Investigator Award for Breast Cancer Research.

Breast pathology.

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Dr. Kleer’s research has focused on breast cancer for over two decades. Her lab works to discover mechanisms of breast cancer invasion and metastasis and to bring laboratory findings into clinical use. She has pioneered the use of high-density tissue microarrays for tissue-based biomarker discovery and validation. Her research has identified two specific events that lead to biologically aggressive breast cancer: loss of the tumor suppressor CCN6 and overexpression of the oncogene EZH2. The Kleer lab mechanistic studies have led the field by demonstrating that EZH2 has non-canonical functions in triple negative breast cancer, that are independent from its role as a transcriptional repressor. Dr. Kleer and her team have developed unique models of triple negative breast cancer and of metaplastic breast carcinoma, which are useful to study breast cancer biology, and to explore novel strategies to prevent or halt metastatic breast cancer.