Research Summary

My primary clinical and research interests focus on gastrointestinal malignancies, with a particular emphasis on pancreatic and gastroesophageal cancers. I have been responsible for developing and leading numerous clinical trials evaluating novel therapeutic strategies for these disease indications (ranging from novel cytotoxics to molecular targeted agents to immunotherapies) supported by industry collaborators, the National Cancer Institute, and various consortia/foundations. This work has included efforts to identify individual patient/tumor characteristics that influence prognosis and response to specific therapies, including both tissue- and blood-based biomarkers.

At a national level I serve as chair of the NCI’s Pancreatic Cancer Task Force; Associate Editor for the Journal of Clinical Oncology; and a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Pancreatic Cancer guidelines committee, as well as having prior leadership and service roles with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the GI Committee of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology cooperative group. 

Leadership and administrative responsibilities at my institution (past and present) have included serving as past (interim) Chief in our Division of Hematology/Oncology, and current Associate Chief; Chief Medical Officer of the UCSF Pancreas Center; and chair of the Cancer Center scientific Protocol Review Committee and GI cancer site committee.

Research Funding

  • September 19, 2011 - August 31, 2014 - Dual Targeting of MEK and EGFR Signaling Pathways in Advanced Pancreatic Cancer , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R21CA149939

Education

Brown University, Providence, RI, Sc.B., 1991, Applied Mathematics/Biology
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, M.D., 1995, Medicine
Board certified, Internal Medicine, 1998
Board certified, Medical Oncology, 2002

Honors & Awards

  • 1987
    National Merit Scholarship
  • 1988
    IBM Thomas J. Watson Memorial Scholarship
  • 1990
    Sigma Xi, elected associate member
  • 1991
    Departmental honors and Magna cum laude, Brown University
  • 1993
    Alpha Omega Alpha, student essay competition honoree
  • 1994
    Harry C. Saltzstein Prize in Medical Writing, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
  • 1995
    Medical Assistance Programs/Reader's Digest International Fellowship
  • 2000
    Amgen National Oncology Fellows' Forum, selected for oral presentation
  • 2000
    American Society of Clinical Oncology, Travel Award (meritorious abstract)
  • 2001
    Digestive Disease Center Collaborative Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • 2003
    UCSF Cancer Center Clinical Investigator Research Program award
  • 2003
    American Society of Clinical Oncology Career Development Award
  • 2007
    Joan Rombauer UCSF Endowed Fellowship
  • 2008
    UCSF Kaiser Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Classroom Setting, nominee
  • 2011
    NCI Cancer Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award
  • 2013
    UCSF Hematology and Oncology Division Teaching Award

Selected Publications

  1. Ko AH, Chao J, Noel MS, Shankaran V, Sohal D, Crow M, Oberstein PE, Scott AJ, McRee AJ, Rocha Lima CMSP, Fong L, Keenan BP, Soto M, Filbert EL, Hsu FJ, Yang X. A Phase 2 Study of Sotigalimab, a CD40 Agonist Antibody, plus Concurrent Chemoradiation as Neoadjuvant Therapy for Esophageal and Gastroesophageal Junction Cancers. Cancer Res Commun. 2025 Feb 01; 5(2):349-357.  View on PubMed
  2. Cloyd JM, Sarna A, Arango MJ, Bates SE, Bhutani MS, Bloomston M, Chung V, Dotan E, Ferrone CR, Gambino PF, Goenka AH, Goodman KA, Hall WA, He J, Hogg ME, Jayaraman S, Kambadakone A, Katz MHG, Khorana AA, Ko AH, Koay EJ, Kooby DA, Krishna SG, Larsson LK, Lee RT, Maitra A, Massarweh NN, Mikhail S, Muzaffar M, O'Reilly EM, Palta M, Petzel MQB, Philip PA, Reyngold M, Santa Mina D, Sohal DPS, Sundaresan TK, Tsai S, Turner KL, Vreeland TJ, Walston S, Washington MK, Williams TM, Wo JY, Snyder RA. Best Practices for Delivering Neoadjuvant Therapy in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. JAMA Surg. 2025 Feb 01; 160(2):172-180.  View on PubMed
  3. Jadlowsky JK, Hexner EO, Marshall A, Grupp SA, Frey NV, Riley JL, Veloso E, McConville H, Rogal W, Czuczman C, Hwang WT, Li Y, Leskowitz RM, Farrelly O, Karar J, Christensen S, Barber-Rotenberg J, Gaymon A, Aronson N, Bernstein W, Melenhorst JJ, Roche AM, Everett JK, Zolnoski SA, McFarland AG, Reddy S, Petrichenko A, Cook EJ, Lee C, Gonzalez VE, Alexander K, Kulikovskaya I, Ramírez-Fernández Á, Minehart JC, Ruella M, Gill SI, Schuster SJ, Cohen AD, Garfall AL, Shah PD, Porter DL, Maude SL, Levine BL, Siegel DL, Chew A, McKenna S, Lledo L, Davis MM, Plesa G, Herbst F, Stadtmauer EA, Tebas P, DiNofia A, Haas A, Haas NB, Myers R, O'Rourke DM, Svoboda J, Tanyi JL, Aplenc R, Jacobson JM, Ko AH, Cohen RB, June CH, Bushman FD, Fraietta JA. Long-term safety of lentiviral or gammaretroviral gene-modified T cell therapies. Nat Med. 2025 Jan 20.  View on PubMed
  4. Ko AH, Oh DY, Lau J, Mhatre SK, Ci B, Machado R, Li S, Bretscher MT, Reyes-Rivera I, Zhu J, Zhang X, Patel J, Psioda MA, Ponz-Sarvise M. Investigational Use of Real-World Data as a Hybrid Control in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma from the Randomized Phase Ib/II MORPHEUS Trial. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2024 Dec 20.  View on PubMed
  5. Sarwahi V, Rahman E, Eigo K, Galina J, Hasan S, Ko A, Lo Y, Amaral T, Djukic A, Santiago M, Schneider J. Perioperative Considerations in Patients with Rett Syndrome as Compared to Those with Cerebral Palsy. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2024 Nov 06.  View on PubMed
  6. Ko A, Vo AM, Miller N, Liang A, Baumbach M, Riley Argue J, Manche N, Gonzalez L, Austin N, Carver P, Procell J, Elzein H, Pan M, Zeidan N, Kasper W, Speer S, Liang Y, Pettus BJ. The Use of Breast-specific Gamma Imaging as a Low-Cost Problem-Solving Strategy for Avoiding Biopsies in Patients With Inconclusive Imaging Findings on Mammography and Ultrasonography. J Breast Imaging. 2024 Sep 11; 6(5):502-512.  View on PubMed
  7. Miller PN, Romero-Hernandez F, Calthorpe L, Wang JJ, Kim SS, Corvera CU, Hirose K, Kirkwood KS, Hirose R, Maker AV, Alseidi AA, Adam MA, Kim GE, Tempero MA, Ko AH, Nakakura EK. ASO Visual Abstract: Long-Duration Neoadjuvant Therapy with FOLFIRINOX Yields Favorable Outcomes for Patients Who Undergo Surgery for Pancreatic Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2024 Jul 27.  View on PubMed
  8. Till JE, McDaniel L, Chang C, Long Q, Pfeiffer SM, Lyman JP, Padrón LJ, Maurer DM, Yu JX, Spencer CN, Gherardini PF, Da Silva DM, LaVallee TM, Abbott C, Chen RO, Boyle SM, Bhagwat N, Cannas S, Sagreiya H, Li W, Yee SS, Abdalla A, Wang Z, Yin M, Ballinger D, Wissel P, Eads J, Karasic T, Schneider C, O'Dwyer P, Teitelbaum U, Reiss KA, Rahma OE, Fisher GA, Ko AH, Wainberg ZA, Wolff RA, O'Reilly EM, O'Hara MH, Cabanski CR, Vonderheide RH, Carpenter EL. Circulating KRAS G12D but not G12V is associated with survival in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Nat Commun. 2024 Jul 09; 15(1):5763.  View on PubMed
  9. Miller PN, Romero-Hernandez F, Calthorpe L, Wang JJ, Kim SS, Corvera CU, Hirose K, Kirkwood KS, Hirose R, Maker AV, Alseidi AA, Adam MA, Kim GE, Tempero MA, Ko AH, Nakakura EK. Long-Duration Neoadjuvant Therapy with FOLFIRINOX Yields Favorable Outcomes for Patients Who Undergo Surgery for Pancreatic Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2024 Sep; 31(9):6147-6156.  View on PubMed
  10. Tsang ES, Dhawan MS, Pacaud R, Thomas S, Grabowsky J, Wilch L, Karipineni S, Kelley RK, Ko AH, Collisson E, Chapman JS, Ueda S, Bergsland EK, Munster P. Synthetic Lethality Beyond BRCA: A Phase I Study of Rucaparib and Irinotecan in Metastatic Solid Tumors With Homologous Recombination-Deficiency Mutations Beyond BRCA1/2. JCO Precis Oncol. 2024 Jun; 8:e2300494.  View on PubMed
  11. Peterson D, Van Poppel M, Boling W, Santos P, Schwalb J, Eisenberg H, Mehta A, Spader H, Botros J, Vrionis FD, Ko A, Adelson PD, Lega B, Konrad P, Calle G, Vale FL, Bucholz R, Richardson RM. Clinical safety and feasibility of a novel implantable neuroimmune modulation device for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: initial results from the randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled RESET-RA study. Bioelectron Med. 2024 Mar 13; 10(1):8.  View on PubMed
  12. Ko AH, Coveler AL, Schlechter BL, Bekaii-Saab T, Wolpin BM, Clark JW, Bockorny B, Bai LY, Lin YC, Chiang E, Langecker P, Lin SY. A multicenter phase Ia study of AbGn-107, a novel antibody-drug conjugate, in patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer. Invest New Drugs. 2024 Apr; 42(2):221-228.  View on PubMed
  13. Soto M, Filbert EL, Yang H, Starzinski S, Starzinski A, Gin M, Chen B, Le P, Li T, Bol B, Cheung A, Zhang L, Hsu FJ, Ko A, Fong L, Keenan BP. Neoadjuvant CD40 Agonism Remodels the Tumor Immune Microenvironment in Locally Advanced Esophageal/Gastroesophageal Junction Cancer. Cancer Res Commun. 2024 01 25; 4(1):200-212.  View on PubMed
  14. O'Reilly EM, Ko AH, Friedberg JW. Flashback Foreword: Gemcitabine for Advanced Pancreatic Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2023 Dec 20; 41(36):5479-5480.  View on PubMed
  15. Gordon JW, Chen HY, Nickles T, Lee PM, Bok R, Ohliger MA, Okamoto K, Ko AH, Larson PEZ, Wang ZJ. Hyperpolarized 13C Metabolic MRI of Patients with Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2024 Aug; 60(2):741-749.  View on PubMed
  16. Ko AH. Flashback Foreword: Erlotinib and Gemcitabine in Pancreatic Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2023 10 20; 41(30):4711-4712.  View on PubMed
  17. Johansen N, Somasundaram S, Travaglini KJ, Yanny AM, Shumyatcher M, Casper T, Cobbs C, Dee N, Ellenbogen R, Ferreira M, Goldy J, Guzman J, Gwinn R, Hirschstein D, Jorstad NL, Keene CD, Ko A, Levi BP, Ojemann JG, Pham T, Shapovalova N, Silbergeld D, Sulc J, Torkelson A, Tung H, Smith K, Lein ES, Bakken TE, Hodge RD, Miller JA. Interindividual variation in human cortical cell type abundance and expression. Science. 2023 10 13; 382(6667):eadf2359.  View on PubMed
  18. Walker EJ, Ko AH. Maintenance Treatment for Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer: Balancing Therapeutic Intensity with Tolerable Toxicity. Cancers (Basel). 2023 Jul 18; 15(14).  View on PubMed
  19. Chiorean EG, Chiaro MD, Tempero MA, Malafa MP, Benson AB, Cardin DB, Christensen JA, Chung V, Czito B, Dillhoff M, Donahue TR, Dotan E, Fountzilas C, Glazer ES, Hardacre J, Hawkins WG, Klute K, Ko AH, Kunstman JW, LoConte N, Lowy AM, Masood A, Moravek C, Nakakura EK, Narang AK, Nardo L, Obando J, Polanco PM, Reddy S, Reyngold M, Scaife C, Shen J, Truty MJ, Vollmer C, Wolff RA, Wolpin BM, Rn BM, Lubin S, Darlow SD. Ampullary Adenocarcinoma, Version 1.2023, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2023 07; 21(7):753-782.  View on PubMed
  20. Ko AH. Flashback Foreword: KRAS Is a Selection Marker for Panitumumab Benefit in Patients With Metastatic Colorectal Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2023 06 20; 41(18):3275-3276.  View on PubMed

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