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. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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. 2024 Nov 26.  View on PubMed
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. Yadav S, Jiang F, Kurkowska S, Saelee R, Morley A, Feng F, Aggarwal R, Lawhn-Heath C, Uribe C, Hope TA. Assessing Response to PSMA Radiopharmaceutical Therapies with Single SPECT Imaging at 24 Hours After Injection. J Nucl Med. 2024 Jul 01; 65(7):1064-1069.  View on PubMed
  13. Zhang M, Sjöström M, Cui X, Foye A, Farh K, Shrestha R, Lundberg A, Dang HX, Li H, Febbo PG, Aggarwal R, Alumkal JJ, Small EJ, SU2C/PCF West Coast Prostate Cancer Dream Team, Maher CA, Feng FY, Quigley DA. Integrative analysis of ultra-deep RNA-seq reveals alternative promoter usage as a mechanism of activating oncogenic programmes during prostate cancer progression. Nat Cell Biol. 2024 Jul; 26(7):1176-1186.  View on PubMed
  14. Kline B, Yadav S, Seo Y, Ippisch RC, Castillo J, Aggarwal RR, Kelley RK, Behr SC, Flavell RR, Lawhn-Heath C, Melisko M, Rugo HS, Wang V, Yom SS, Ha P, Jiang F, Hope TA. 68Ga-FAP-2286 PET of Solid Tumors: Biodistribution, Dosimetry, and Comparison with 18F-FDG. J Nucl Med. 2024 Jun 03; 65(6):938-943.  View on PubMed
  15. Subramanian A, Zhang M, Sharifi M, Moreno-Rodriguez T, Feng E, Rydzewski NR, Shrestha R, Zhu X, Zhao SG, Aggarwal R, Small EJ, Ding CC, Quigley DA, Sjöström M. A prostate cancer gastrointestinal transcriptional phenotype may be associated with diminished response to AR-targeted therapy. bioRxiv. 2024 Jun 03.  View on PubMed
  16. Meher N, Ashley GW, Bobba KN, Wadhwa A, Bidkar AP, Dasari C, Mu C, Sankaranarayanan RA, Serrano JAC, Raveendran A, Bulkley DP, Aggarwal R, Greenland NY, Oskowitz A, Wilson DM, Seo Y, Santi DV, VanBrocklin HF, Flavell RR. Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen Targeted StarPEG Nanocarrier for Imaging and Therapy of Prostate Cancer. Adv Healthc Mater. 2024 Jul; 13(19):e2304618.  View on PubMed
  17. Aggarwal R, Bhatt DL, Szarek M, Leiter LA, Cannon CP, Lopes RD, Davies MJ, Banks P, Pitt B, Steg PG. Time to clinical benefit with sotagliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease: Insights from the SCORED randomized trial. Eur J Heart Fail. 2024 Apr; 26(4):1093-1095.  View on PubMed
  18. Chang H, Marquez J, Chen BK, Kim DM, Cheng ML, Liu EV, Yang H, Zhang L, Sinha M, Cheung A, Kwek SS, Chow ED, Bridge M, Aggarwal RR, Friedlander TW, Small EJ, Anderson M, Fong L. Immune Modulation with RANKL Blockade through Denosumab Treatment in Patients with Cancer. Cancer Immunol Res. 2024 Apr 02; 12(4):453-461.  View on PubMed
  19. Wise DR, Pachynski RK, Denmeade SR, Aggarwal RR, Deng J, Febles VA, Balar AV, Economides MP, Loomis C, Selvaraj S, Haas M, Kagey MH, Newman W, Baum J, Troxel AB, Griglun S, Leis D, Yang N, Aranchiy V, Machado S, Waalkes E, Gargano G, Soamchand N, Puranik A, Chattopadhyay P, Fedal E, Deng FM, Ren Q, Chiriboga L, Melamed J, Sirard CA, Wong KK. A Phase 1/2 multicenter trial of DKN-01 as monotherapy or in combination with docetaxel for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2024 Feb 10.  View on PubMed
  20. Koshkin VS, Kumar V, Kline B, Escobar D, Aslam M, Cooperberg MR, Aggarwal RR, de Kouchkovsky I, Chou J, Meng MV, Friedlander T, Porten S, Hope TA. Initial Experience with 68Ga-FAP-2286 PET Imaging in Patients with Urothelial Cancer. J Nucl Med. 2024 Feb 01; 65(2):199-205.  View on PubMed

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