Akash Patnaik, MD, PhD, MMSc

Principal Investigator

As a physician-scientist, Dr. Patnaik leads a translational research program (laboratory and clinical trials) in developmental therapeutics and immuno-oncology. In the clinic, he focuses on the treatment of patients with genitourinary cancers, which include prostate, kidney, bladder and testicular cancers. He is also a faculty member within the Committees of Cancer Biology, Clinical Pharmacology & Pharmacogenomics at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Patnaik and his translational research program (laboratory and early-phase clinical trials) at the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center focus on targeting oncogenic signaling, DNA repair and innate immune sensing pathways to enhance responsiveness to immunotherapy in advanced prostate and other immune-refractory cancers. In addition to his laboratory focus, Dr. Patnaik is a Principal Investigator on several early-phase cancer clinical trials (investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored), and serves as a national correlative science chair for an Alliance Foundation clinical trial in prostate cancer.

Dr. Patnaik is a Principal Investigator recipient of numerous grants/awards in recognition for his work, which include the 2021 V Foundation Translational Research Award, United States Department of Defense (DOD) Prostate Cancer Research Program Physician-Researcher Award, Bristol-Myers Squibb/International ImmunoOncology Network Award, National Cancer Institute Prostate SPORE Developmental Project Awards, Cancer Research Foundation Young Investigator Award, American Cancer Society Research Grant and Phi Beta Psi Research Organization Award. Dr. Patnaik and his research team also received the prestigious Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) Challenge Award, chosen from a global competition involving 67 cancer research centers in 14 countries. He currently serves as Deputy Editor for Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, an American Association for Cancer Research journal, and expert reviewer for American Society for Clinical Oncology Conquer Cancer Foundation, DOD, PCF and several high-impact scientific journals.