Dr. Kaplan is a physician scientist who developed the concept of the pre-metastatic niche describing the changes in distant microenvironments in response to a growing tumor that create a niche environment conducive to disseminating tumor cell survival and growth resulting in clinically relevant metastasis. Dr Kaplan has an active translational research program focusing on developing novel biomarkers and targets of the metastatic microenvironment by understanding the commonalities in mechanisms employed by a cancer cell to generate an entire heterogenous tumor at distant sites and stem cells and their niche to repopulate tissues.