Daniela Matei, MD, is the Director of the Houston Methodist Dr. Mary and Ron Neal Cancer Center. Before joining Houston Methodist, Dr. Matei served as the Diana, Princess of Wales Professor in Cancer Research and Chief of the Division of Reproductive Science in Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Over the past two decades, she has also served on key national committees, including the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Ovarian Cancer NCI Taskforce, NRG Oncology and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

An expert in ovarian cancer treatment and research, Dr. Matei has made significant contributions to the field. She has led multiple clinical trials in women with gynecologic cancers and published more than 170 papers with over 15,000 citations. Her research helps bridge discoveries from the lab to the clinic and accelerate them to patients. She is equally passionate about mentoring and developing our next generation of clinicians and scientists.

Dr. Matei is actively funded by the NIH/NCI, Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Veterans Administration, and Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). With a $4 million grant from the CPRIT, Dr. Matei’s leadership will help advance cancer research and innovation at Houston Methodist and throughout the state of Texas

Dr. Matei studies mechanisms of ovarian cancer metastasis and novel therapeutics for ovarian cancer. One major focus is identifying and targeting ovarian cancer stem cells to improve treatment efficacy and patient outcomes. She also examines epigenetic alterations in chemotherapy-resistant ovarian tumors, aiming to therapeutically reprogram the epigenome and restore sensitivity to standard treatments. In addition, her work explores the role of lipid metabolism in promoting cancer stemness and metastatic progression, uncovering metabolic vulnerabilities that may be leveraged for novel interventions.