Rolf A. Brekken received his BA in biology from Luther College in Decorah, IA and his PhD from UT Southwestern Medical Center. His graduate studies under Dr. Phil Thorpe were focused on developing monoclonal antibodies that target the vascular compartment of tumors. He completed his postdoctoral studies with Dr. E. Helene Sage at the Hope Heart Institute in Seattle where he investigated the matricellular protein SPARC and how it functions in the tumor microenvironment. 

Dr. Brekken is the Effie Marie Cain Scholar in Angiogenesis Research, Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Pharmacology, Deputy Director of the Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research and Director of the Cancer Biology Graduate Program at UT Southwestern. The Brekken laboratory is focused on understanding how the tumor microenvironment effects anti-cancer therapeutic efficacy. Trainees, including 16 PhD students, 12 postdoctoral fellows, 14 clinical fellows and over 25 summer trainees (undergraduates, graduate students, medical students and high school students) have trained in the Brekken lab over the last 20 years.