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 serve as the Co-Leader for the GU Medical Oncology program at UCSF.

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. Zhao N, Chopra S, Trepka K, Wang YH, Sakhamuri S, Hooshdaran N, Kim H, Zhou J, Leung KK, Egusa EA, Zhu J, Zhang L, Foye A, Sriram R, Chan E, Seo Y, Feng FY, Small EJ, Chou J, Wells JA, Aggarwal R, Evans MJ. CUB domain containing protein 1 (CDCP1) is a target for radioligand therapy in castration resistant prostate cancer including PSMA null disease. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 May 23.  View on PubMed
  2. Borno HT, Zhang L, Zhang S, Kaplan C, Palmer NR, Bell A, Bakke B, Lin A, Aggarwal R, Small EJ. Mobile Clinical Trial Matching Technology in Medical Oncology Clinic: A Pilot Feasibility Study. JCO Clin Cancer Inform. 2022 May; 6:e2100182.  View on PubMed
  3. de Kouchkovsky I, Rao A, Carneiro BA, Zhang L, Lewis C, Phone A, Small EJ, Friedlander T, Fong L, Paris PL, Ryan CJ, Szmulewitz RZ, Aggarwal R. A Phase Ib/II Study of the CDK4/6 Inhibitor Ribociclib in Combination with Docetaxel plus Prednisone in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 Apr 14; 28(8):1531-1539.  View on PubMed
  4. Natesan D, Zhang L, Martell HJ, Jindal T, Devine P, Stohr B, Espinosa-Mendez C, Grenert J, Van Ziffle J, Joseph N, Umetsu S, Onodera C, Turski M, Chan E, Desai A, Aggarwal R, Wong A, Porten S, Chou J, Friedlander T, Fong L, Small EJ, Sweet-Cordero A, Koshkin VS. APOBEC Mutational Signature and Tumor Mutational Burden as Predictors of Clinical Outcomes and Treatment Response in Patients With Advanced Urothelial Cancer. Front Oncol. 2022; 12:816706.  View on PubMed
  5. Kim H, Huang Y, Zhao N, Wang YH, Sakhamuri S, Chopra S, Hooshdaran N, Sriram R, Aggarwal R, Evans MJ. In Vivo Profiling with 18F-YJH08 Reveals Diverse Tissue Patterns of Antagonist/Glucocorticoid Receptor Interactions. Mol Pharm. 2022 02 07; 19(2):704-709.  View on PubMed
  6. Chiu L, Lo CH, Shen M, Chiu N, Aggarwal R, Lee J, Choi YG, Lam H, Prsic EH, Chow R, Shin HJ. Colchicine use in patients with COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2021; 16(12):e0261358.  View on PubMed
  7. Kwon DH, Karthikeyan S, Chang A, Borno HT, Koshkin VS, Desai A, Bose R, Friedlander T, Rodvelt T, Li P, Small EJ, Aggarwal RR, Belkora J. Mobile Audio Recording Technology to Promote Informed Decision Making in Advanced Prostate Cancer. JCO Oncol Pract. 2022 May; 18(5):e648-e658.  View on PubMed
  8. Singh N, Ramnarine VR, Song JH, Pandey R, Padi SKR, Nouri M, Olive V, Kobelev M, Okumura K, McCarthy D, Hanna MM, Mukherjee P, Sun B, Lee BR, Parker JB, Chakravarti D, Warfel NA, Zhou M, Bearss JJ, Gibb EA, Alshalalfa M, Karnes RJ, Small EJ, Aggarwal R, Feng F, Wang Y, Buttyan R, Zoubeidi A, Rubin M, Gleave M, Slack FJ, Davicioni E, Beltran H, Collins C, Kraft AS. The long noncoding RNA H19 regulates tumor plasticity in neuroendocrine prostate cancer. Nat Commun. 2021 12 21; 12(1):7349.  View on PubMed
  9. de Kouchkovsky I, Chen HY, Ohliger MA, Wang ZJ, Bok RA, Gordon JW, Larson PEZ, Frost M, Okamoto K, Cooperberg MR, Kurhanewicz J, Vigneron DB, Aggarwal R. Hyperpolarized 1-[13C]-Pyruvate Magnetic Resonance Imaging Detects an Early Metabolic Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy in Prostate Cancer. Eur Urol. 2022 02; 81(2):219-221.  View on PubMed
  10. Aggarwal R, Rydzewski NR, Zhang L, Foye A, Kim W, Helzer KT, Bakhtiar H, Chang SL, Perry MD, Gleave M, Reiter RE, Huang J, Evans CP, Alumkal JJ, Lang JM, Yu M, Quigley DA, Sjöström M, Small EJ, Feng FY, Zhao SG. Prognosis Associated With Luminal and Basal Subtypes of Metastatic Prostate Cancer. JAMA Oncol. 2021 Nov 01; 7(11):1644-1652.  View on PubMed
  11. Kenfield SA, Van Blarigan EL, Panchal N, Bang A, Zhang L, Graff RE, Chen YH, Ryan CJ, Luke A, Newton RU, Tenggara I, Schultz B, Wang E, Lavaki E, Zuniga K, Pinto N, Borno H, Aggarwal R, Friedlander T, Koshkin VS, Harzstark A, Small E, Chan JM. Feasibility, safety, and acceptability of a remotely monitored exercise pilot CHAMP: A Clinical trial of High-intensity Aerobic and resistance exercise for Metastatic castrate-resistant Prostate cancer. Cancer Med. 2021 11; 10(22):8058-8070.  View on PubMed
  12. Qin H, Tang S, Riselli AM, Bok RA, Delos Santos R, van Criekinge M, Gordon JW, Aggarwal R, Chen R, Goddard G, Zhang CT, Chen A, Reed G, Ruscitto DM, Slater J, Sriram R, Larson PEZ, Vigneron DB, Kurhanewicz J. Clinical translation of hyperpolarized 13 C pyruvate and urea MRI for simultaneous metabolic and perfusion imaging. Magn Reson Med. 2022 01; 87(1):138-149.  View on PubMed
  13. Mansfield AS, Hong DS, Hann CL, Farago AF, Beltran H, Waqar SN, Hendifar AE, Anthony LB, Taylor MH, Bryce AH, Tagawa ST, Lewis K, Niu J, Chung CH, Cleary JM, Rossi M, Ludwig C, Valenzuela R, Luo Y, Aggarwal R. A phase I/II study of rovalpituzumab tesirine in delta-like 3-expressing advanced solid tumors. NPJ Precis Oncol. 2021 Aug 05; 5(1):74.  View on PubMed
  14. Pollock Y, Zhang L, Kenfield SA, Van Blarigan EL, Rodvelt T, Rabow M, Macaire G, Weinberg R, Topp K, Friedlander T, Lin A, Fong L, Kim W, Ma B, Hough J, Lee M, Paciorek A, Ryan CJ, Chan JM, Small E, Aggarwal R. A multidisciplinary team-based approach with lifestyle modification and symptom management to address the impact of androgen deprivation therapy in prostate cancer: A randomized phase II study. Urol Oncol. 2021 10; 39(10):730.e9-730.e15.  View on PubMed
  15. Taza F, Holler AE, Fu W, Wang H, Adra N, Albany C, Ashkar R, Cheng HH, Sokolova AO, Agarwal N, Kessel A, Bryce A, Nafissi N, Barata P, Sartor AO, Bastos D, Smaletz O, Berchuck JE, Taplin ME, Aggarwal R, Sternberg CN, Vlachostergios PJ, Alva AS, Su C, Marshall CH, Antonarakis ES. Differential Activity of PARP Inhibitors in BRCA1- Versus BRCA2-Altered Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. JCO Precis Oncol. 2021; 5.  View on PubMed
  16. Lee PM, Chen HY, Gordon JW, Zhu Z, Larson PEZ, Dwork N, Van Criekinge M, Carvajal L, Ohliger MA, Wang ZJ, Xu D, Kurhanewicz J, Bok RA, Aggarwal R, Munster PN, Vigneron DB. Specialized computational methods for denoising, B1 correction, and kinetic modeling in hyperpolarized 13 C MR EPSI studies of liver tumors. Magn Reson Med. 2021 11; 86(5):2402-2411.  View on PubMed
  17. de Kouchkovsky I, Aggarwal R, Hope TA. Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-based imaging in localized and advanced prostate cancer: a narrative review. Transl Androl Urol. 2021 Jul; 10(7):3130-3143.  View on PubMed
  18. Kim DH, Sun D, Storck WK, Welker Leng K, Jenkins C, Coleman DJ, Sampson D, Guan X, Kumaraswamy A, Rodansky ES, Urrutia JA, Schwartzman JA, Zhang C, Beltran H, Labrecque MP, Morrissey C, Lucas JM, Coleman IM, Nelson PS, Corey E, Handelman SK, Sexton JZ, Aggarwal R, Abida W, Feng FY, Small EJ, Spratt DE, Bankhead A, Rao A, Gesner EM, Attwell S, Lakhotia S, Campeau E, Yates JA, Xia Z, Alumkal JJ. BET Bromodomain Inhibition Blocks an AR-Repressed, E2F1-Activated Treatment-Emergent Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer Lineage Plasticity Program. Clin Cancer Res. 2021 09 01; 27(17):4923-4936.  View on PubMed
  19. Sinha M, Zhang L, Subudhi S, Chen B, Marquez J, Liu EV, Allaire K, Cheung A, Ng S, Nguyen C, Friedlander TW, Aggarwal R, Spitzer M, Allison JP, Small EJ, Sharma P, Fong L. Pre-existing immune status associated with response to combination of sipuleucel-T and ipilimumab in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. J Immunother Cancer. 2021 05; 9(5).  View on PubMed
  20. Chen E, Cario CL, Leong L, Lopez K, Márquez CP, Li PS, Oropeza E, Tenggara I, Cowan J, Simko JP, Kageyama R, Wells DK, Chan JM, Friedlander T, Aggarwal R, Paris PL, Feng F, Carroll PR, Witte JS. Cell-Free DNA Detection of Tumor Mutations in Heterogeneous, Localized Prostate Cancer Via Targeted, Multiregion Sequencing. JCO Precis Oncol. 2021; 5.  View on PubMed

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