Research Summary

I am a Medical Oncologist within the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of California San Francisco. My clinical practice focuses on patients with advanced solid tumor malignancies with a particular emphasis on genitourinary malignancies including prostate, kidney, bladder, and testicular cancer.

I am the Program Leader for GU Medical Oncology program and Associate Director for Clinical Research in the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

My research focus is on developing novel therapies and imaging modalities for patients with advanced solid tumor malignancies, with a focus on patients with advanced prostate cancer.

Research Funding

  • March 1, 2021 - February 28, 2026 - Precision targeting of T cell cytotoxicity with PET , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA258297
  • December 1, 2020 - November 30, 2025 - Measuring Metabolic Activity in Prostate Cancer Bone Metastases Using Hyperpolarized 13C Pyruvate MRI for Improved Targeted Therapy Monitoring , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA256740
  • June 1, 2017 - May 31, 2022 - Targeting Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer Using Multi-Probe Hyperpolarized 13C MRI for Improved Treatment and Therapeutic Monitoring , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA215694
  • June 1, 2019 - April 30, 2021 - Immunogenic Priming with Lu-PSMA Targeted Therapy in Advanced Prostate Cancer , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA229354

Education

Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, BA, 1999-2002, Psychology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, MD, 2002-2006, Medicine

Honors & Awards

  • 2001
    James Alton James Scholarship, Northwestern University
  • 2002
    James A. Patten Scholarship, Northwestern University
  • 2002
    Phi Beta Kappa Centennial Award, Northwestern University
  • 2002
    Summa Cum Laude, Northwestern University
  • 2004
    Department of Medicine Chairman’s Award, Northwestern University School of Medicine
  • 2005
    Member Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society
  • 2011
    Pfizer Fellowships in Oncology Award in collaboration with UCSF Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine
  • 2012
    Young Investigator Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology/Conquer Cancer Foundation
  • 2012
    Inaugural Recipient, Ronald A. Rosenberg Fellowship in Genitourinary Medical Oncology, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
  • 2013
    Alliance Cooperative Group Scholar Award
  • 2014
    The Sence Foundation Award
  • 2015
    Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award
  • 2016
    Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program Physician Research Training Award
  • 2016
    UCSF Helen Diller Family Early Phase Clinical Research Support Grant
  • 2016
    National Cancer Institute Cancer Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award

Selected Publications

  1. Duan Z, Shi M, Kumaraswamy A, Lin D, Khokhani D, Wang Y, Zhang C, Flores D, Rodansky E, Swaim OA, Storck WK, Beck HN, Patel RA, Sayar E, Hanratty BP, Xue H, Dong X, Maylin ZR, Wan R, Quigley DA, Sjöström M, Hu YM, Zhao F, Xia Z, Cheng S, Yu X, Feng FY, Zhang L, Aggarwal R, Small EJ, Ravikumar V, Rao A, Bedi K, Lee JK, Morrissey C, Coleman I, Nelson PS, Corey E, Udager AM, Rebernick RJ, Cieslik MP, Chinnaiyan AM, Yates JA, Haffner MC, Wang Y, Alumkal JJ. PROX1 is an early driver of lineage plasticity in prostate cancer. J Clin Invest. 2025 Jun 02; 135(11).  View on PubMed
  2. Yadav S, Tuchayi AM, Moradpour M, Jiang F, Juarez R, de Kouchkovsky I, Flavell RR, Aggarwal RR, Hope TA. Pre- or post-chemotherapy: effect on PSMA uptake. EJNMMI Res. 2025 Apr 07; 15(1):36.  View on PubMed
  3. Gilligan T, Lin DW, Adra N, Bagrodia A, Feldman DR, Yamoah K, Aggarwal R, Chandrasekar T, Costa D, Drakaki A, Eggener S, Emamekhoo H, Geynisman DM, Graham L, Humphrey P, Leuva H, Levine EG, Luckenbaugh A, Maughan BL, McGregor B, Monk P, Picus J, Pierorazio P, Rais-Bahrami S, Reichert Z, Rwigema JC, Saylor P, Shah A, Shah S, Singla N, Sircar K, VanderWeele D, Zhumkhawala A, Montgomery S, Sliker B. NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Testicular Cancer, Version 2.2025. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2025 04; 23(4).  View on PubMed
  4. Feng EM, Vo-Phamhi J, Subramanian AN, Dias M, Foye A, Vinson J, Hong JC, Freedland SJ, Alumkal JJ, Beltran H, Morrissey C, Nelson PS, Chinnaiyan AM, Aggarwal R, Small EJ, Quigley DA, Sjöström M, Zhao SG, Chen WS. Racial variation in the advanced prostate cancer genome. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2025 Mar 31.  View on PubMed
  5. Unterrainer LM, Farolfi A, Grogan T, Hotta M, Djaileb L, Gafita A, Sonni I, Rettig MB, Rosar F, Ezziddin S, Denis CS, de Kouchkovsky I, Aggarwal R, Emmett L, Hope TA, Czernin J, Calais J. Early changes of PSMA PET expression after initiation of androgen receptor signaling inhibitors in CRPC: an international multicenter retrospective study. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2025 Mar 26.  View on PubMed
  6. Aggarwal RR, Vuky J, VanderWeele D, Rettig M, Heath EI, Quigley D, Huang J, Chumber A, Cheung A, Foye A, Leung S, Abbey J, Dorr A, Nasoff M, Hunter J, Wang S, Flavell RR, Fong L, Liu B, Small EJ. Phase I, First-in-Human Study of FOR46 (FG-3246), an Immune-Modulating Antibody-Drug Conjugate Targeting CD46, in Patients With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2025 May 20; 43(15):1824-1834.  View on PubMed
  7. Zhu X, Ding CC, Aggarwal RR. Emerging Therapeutic Targets of Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer. Curr Oncol Rep. 2025 Apr; 27(4):362-374.  View on PubMed
  8. Sharifi MN, Feng E, Rydzewski NR, Taylor AK, Sperger JM, Shi Y, Helzer KT, Bootsma ML, Carreno V, Chang AH, Nunamaker LA, Blitzer GC, Shang TA, Subramanian A, Bjartell A, Josefsson A, Wikström P, Feng E, Kohli M, Yang R, Dehm SM, Small EJ, Aggarwal R, Quigley DA, Lang JM, Zhao SG, Sjöström M. Adverse prognosis gene expression patterns in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Mol Oncol. 2025 Feb 22.  View on PubMed
  9. Aggarwal R, Bhatt DL, Steg PG, Miller M, Brinton EA, Dunbar RL, Ketchum SB, Tardif JC, Martens FMAC, Ballantyne CM, Szarek M, Mason RP, REDUCE-IT Investigators. Cardiovascular Outcomes With Icosapent Ethyl by Baseline Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol: A Secondary Analysis of the REDUCE-IT Randomized Trial. J Am Heart Assoc. 2025 Mar 04; 14(5):e038656.  View on PubMed
  10. Bidkar AP, Peter R, Wadhwa A, Bobba KN, Bidlingmaier S, Meher N, Chou J, Greenland N, Dasari C, Naik S, Raveendran A, Basak M, Camara Serrano JA, Steri V, Kogan S, Oskowitz A, He J, Wilson DM, Aggarwal R, Sriram R, VanBrocklin HF, Seo Y, Liu B, Flavell RR. Effective Treatment of Disseminated Prostate Cancer Using CD46-Targeted 225Ac Therapy. Clin Cancer Res. 2025 Feb 13.  View on PubMed
  11. Haffner MC, Morris MJ, Ding CC, Sayar E, Mehra R, Robinson B, True LD, Gleave M, Lotan TL, Aggarwal R, Huang J, Loda M, Nelson PS, Rubin MA, Beltran H. Framework for the Pathology Workup of Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Biopsies. Clin Cancer Res. 2025 Feb 03; 31(3):466-478.  View on PubMed
  12. Meher N, Bidkar AP, Wadhwa A, Bobba KN, Dhrona S, Dasari C, Mu C, Fong COY, Cámara JA, Ali U, Basak M, Bulkley D, Steri V, Fontaine SD, Zhu J, Oskowitz A, Aggarwal RR, Sriram R, Chou J, Wilson DM, Seo Y, Santi DV, Ashley GW, VanBrocklin HF, Flavell RR. PET Imaging Using 89Zr-Labeled StarPEG Nanocarriers Reveals Heterogeneous Enhanced Permeability and Retention in Prostate Cancer. Mol Cancer Ther. 2025 Jan 02; 24(1):141-151.  View on PubMed
  13. Tsang ES, Aggarwal RR, Bergsland EK, Calabrese S, Rozie A, Chaudhuri S, Dhawan MS, Pawlowska N, Grabowsky J, Thomas S, Munster PN. Updated Survival Follow-Up for Phase Ib Trial of the Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor Abexinostat With Pazopanib in Patients With Solid Tumor Malignancies. JCO Precis Oncol. 2024 Nov; 8:e2400328.  View on PubMed
  14. Kwon DH, Trihy L, Darvish N, Hearst E, Sumra S, Borno HT, Bose R, Chou J, de Kouchkovsky I, Desai A, Ekstrand B, Friedlander T, Kaur G, Koshkin VS, Nesheiwat S, Sepucha K, Small EJ, Aggarwal RR, Belkora J. Patients Can Administer Mobile Audio Recordings to Increase Knowledge in Advanced Prostate Cancer. Cancer Med. 2024 Nov; 13(22):e70433.  View on PubMed
  15. Shrestha R, Chesner LN, Zhang M, Zhou S, Foye A, Lundberg A, Weinstein AS, Sjöström M, Zhu X, Moreno-Rodriguez T, Li H, SU2C/PCF West Coast Prostate Cancer Dream Team, Alumkal JJ, Aggarwal R, Small EJ, Lupien M, Quigley DA, Feng FY. An Atlas of Accessible Chromatin in Advanced Prostate Cancer Reveals the Epigenetic Evolution during Tumor Progression. Cancer Res. 2024 Sep 16; 84(18):3086-3100.  View on PubMed
  16. Yadav S, Lowery B, Tuchayi AM, Jiang F, Saelee R, Aggarwal RR, Juarez R, Flavell RR, Hope TA. Impact of Posttreatment SPECT/CT on Patient Management During 177Lu-PSMA-617 Radiopharmaceutical Therapy. J Nucl Med. 2024 Sep 03; 65(9):1395-1401.  View on PubMed
  17. Kwon DH, Scheuner MT, McPhaul M, Hearst E, Sumra S, Ursem C, Walker E, Wang S, Huang FW, Aggarwal RR, Belkora J. Germline testing for veterans with advanced prostate cancer: concerns about service-connected benefits. JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2024 Sep 02; 8(5).  View on PubMed
  18. Zhu X, Farsh T, Vis D, Yu I, Li H, Liu T, Sjöström M, Shrestha R, Kneppers J, Severson T, Zhang M, Lundberg A, Moreno Rodriguez T, Weinstein AS, Foye A, Mehra N, Aggarwal RR, Bergman AM, Small EJ, Lack NA, Zwart W, Quigley DA, van der Heijden MS, Feng FY. Genomic and transcriptomic features of androgen receptor signaling inhibitor resistance in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. J Clin Invest. 2024 Aug 13; 134(19).  View on PubMed
  19. Zhao SG, Bootsma M, Zhou S, Shrestha R, Moreno-Rodriguez T, Lundberg A, Pan C, Arlidge C, Hawley JR, Foye A, Weinstein AS, Sjöström M, Zhang M, Li H, Chesner LN, Rydzewski NR, Helzer KT, Shi Y, West Coast Dream Team Consortium, Lynch M, Dehm SM, Lang JM, Alumkal JJ, He HH, Wyatt AW, Aggarwal R, Zwart W, Small EJ, Quigley DA, Lupien M, Feng FY. Integrated analyses highlight interactions between the three-dimensional genome and DNA, RNA and epigenomic alterations in metastatic prostate cancer. Nat Genet. 2024 Aug; 56(8):1689-1700.  View on PubMed
  20. Maldonado E, Rathmell WK, Shapiro GI, Takebe N, Rodon J, Mahalingam D, Trikalinos NA, Kalebasty AR, Parikh M, Boerner SA, Balido C, Krings G, Burns TF, Bergsland EK, Munster PN, Ashworth A, LoRusso P, Aggarwal RR. A Phase II Trial of the WEE1 Inhibitor Adavosertib in SETD2-Altered Advanced Solid Tumor Malignancies (NCI 10170). Cancer Res Commun. 2024 07 01; 4(7):1793-1801.  View on PubMed

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