Sadia Saleem
Department of General Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine
About Dr. Sadia Saleem
Dr. Sadia Saleem completed her residency training in
internal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She then
completed fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at the University of Texas
Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. She is board certified in both hematology and
oncology. She then joined MD Anderson Cancer Center as faculty. She sees general oncology, benign and malignant hematology patients, and has a
special interest in breast cancer. She is a member of the American
Society of Clinical Oncology and has presented posters at various national
conferences. She is also co-author on several peer reviewed publications.
Other languages spoken Urdu and Hindi.
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Other languages spoken Urdu and Hindi.
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Associate Professor, Breast Medical Oncology (Joint Appointment), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Associate Professor, General Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2004 | Aga Khan University, Karachi, PK, MBBS in MBBS |
Postgraduate Training
| 2011-2014 | Clinical Fellowship, Hematology Oncology Fellowship, Harold C Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center/UT Southwestern, Dallas, Texas |
| 2007-2009 | Clinical Residency, Internal Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas |
| 2006-2007 | Clinical Internship, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas |
Licenses & Certifications
| 2024 | Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure |
| 2024 | Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure |
| 2024 | Georgia Composite Medical Board |
| 2024 | Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners |
| 2024 | Arizona Board of Medical Examiners |
| 2024 | Alabama Board of Medical Examiners |
| 2024 | Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners |
| 2021 | Telehealth Registration |
| 2021 | Florida Board of Medicine |
| 2014 | Texas Medical Board |
| 2014 | Hematology-Oncology Board Certification |
| 2014 | Medical Oncology Board Certification |
| 2012 | DEA |
Experience & Service
Faculty Academic Appointments
Associate Professor, Breast Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2020 - 2025
Associate Professor, General Oncology (Joint Appointment), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 2020 - 2025
Assistant Professor, General Oncology (Joint Appointment), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2019 - 2020
Assistant Professor, Breast Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2014 - 2020
Extramural Institutional Committee Activities
Member, Inflammatory Breast Cancer Planning Committee - IBC CONNECT Retreat, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2025 - Present
Member, Inflammatory Breast Cancer Strategic Planning Committee - National Ads/Reach/Interconnect, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2024 - Present
Leader, Inflammatory Breast Cancer, National IBC CONNECT Network, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2022 - Present
Member, Wellness Committee for Breast Medical Oncology Department, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2021 - 2023
Section Chief, Breast Medical Oncology for the Houston Area Locations, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2021 - Present
Member, Member of the Breast Service Line Expansion Effort for Strategic Reopening and Flexible Recovery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2020 - Present
Leader, Houston Area Locations-Texas Medical Center Inflammatory Breast Cancer Collaboration, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2020 - Present
Medical Oncology Lead, Inflammatory Breast Cancer Quality Assurance Meetings (Weekly), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2020 - Present
Member, Senate Faculty Welfare Sub-committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2019 - 2025
Senator for Breast Medical Oncology, Faculty Senate for MD Anderson Cancer Center, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2019 - 2021
Member, Member of Sugar Land Houston Area Location Ambulatory Treatment Center Performance Improvement Project, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2019 - 2020
Member, Sugar Land Patient Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2019 - Present
Member, Houston Area Locations Clinical Research Steering Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2019 - 2020
Member, Member of the Remote Consenting Initiative, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2019 - 2020
Member, Breast Medical Oncology Clinical Trial Subgroup for the Houston Area Locations, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2015 - 2020
Honors & Awards
| 2021 - 2023 | Multi-Year Appointment Award |
| 2021 | Top Performer 1% nationally on CAHPS measures |
| 2019 | Top Performer 10% nationally on CAHPS measures |
| 2013 | Rooney Cancer Award, Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center/UT Southwestern |
| 2000 - 2004 | Begum Shafiqa Zia Scholarship, Aga Khan University |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
Regional Presentations
- 2025. Circulating Immune Correlates of Pathological Response to Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab Plus Chemotherapy in High-Risk, Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer. Poster. San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. San Antonio, US.
- 2017. Speaker, Breast Friends - Role of diet and lifestyle on Breast Cancer Survivorship. Conference. Breast Friend Sugar Land Support group. Sugar Land, US.
- 2017. Managing the side effects of Breast Cancer Treatment: Role of Integrative Medicine & Beyond, Breast Friends Support Group and Educational Program. Conference. Breast Friends Support Group Sugar Land, US.
- 2016. Overview of Breast Cancer Chemotherapy, MD Anderson Sugar Land Monthly Meeting. Conference. MD Anderson Sugar Land, US.
- 2016. Improving Outcomes in Triple Negative Breast Cancer using Molecular Triage & Diagnostic Imaging to guide Neoadjuvant Therapy, Sugar Land Educational Series Seminar. Conference. MD Anderson Sugar Land, US.
- 2016. Novel Anti-Her 2 Therapies for Breast Cancer, Sugar Land Educational series seminar. Conference. MD Anderson Sugar Land, US.
National Presentations
- 2022. IBC Clinical Case Discussion Meetings. Quarterly IBC Meetings. Houston, Texas, US.
- 2022. IBC Clinical Consensus Guideline Meetings. Bi-annual IBC Meetings. Houston, TX, US.
- 2013. A case of bendamustine induced eosinophilic pneumonitis. Conference. Annual Chest Conference. Chicago, IL, US.
- 2013. Acute Fibrinous and Organizing Pneumonia: A Rare Histopathologic Variant of Bleomycin-induced Lung Injury. Conference. Annual Chest Conference. Chicago, IL, US.
- 2008. Primary Effusion Lymphoma in an HIV positive man. Conference. Oral Presentation: Society of General Internal Medicine. New Orleans, LA, US.
International Presentations
- 2022. Locoregional Nodal Status at Initial Presentation on Ultrasound and PET/CT of Inflammatory Breast Cancer Patients is Predictive of Overall Survival. Invited. International Inflammatory Breast Cancer Symposium. Houston, US.
- 2018. Oral Presentation by Dr. Shannon Westin:Phase 1 trial of Olaparib (PARP inhibitor) and Vistusertib (mTORC1/2 inhibitor) in recurrent endometrial, ovarian and triple negative breast cancer. Conference. ASCO Annual Meeting. Chicago, US.
- 2014. Association of Adiponectin in patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing 3 (PNPLA3) associated hepatic steatosis. Conference. ASCO GI Cancers Symposium, US.
- 2013. Piasma Adiponectin to predict incident cancer in a large multiethnic population-based cohort study. Conference. ASCO Annual Meeting. Chicago, US.
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Nasrazadani, A, Tidwell, R, Kai, M, Lim, B, Valero, V, Tripathy, D, Saleem, S, Debeb, BG, Lucci, A, Woodward, W, Layman, RM, Lopez, HB, Villareal, L, Yajima, C, Alexander, A, Marx, AN, Lu, Y, Le-Petross, H, Patel, MM, Whitman, GJ, Sun, SX, Stauder, MC, Layman, R. Retrospective review of metastatic hormone receptor-positive inflammatory breast cancer patients reveals poor responses to cyclin dependent kinase 4/6 inhibition. Breast Cancer Research 28(1), 2026. e-Pub 2026. PMID: 41372771.
- Tenreiro, A, Sun, J, Whitman, GJ, Dinh, A, Kai, M, Lu, Y, Saleem, S, Guirguis, MS, Patel, MM, Lucci, A, Woodward, W, Le-Petross, H. Locoregional Nodal Status at Initial Presentation on Ultrasound (US) and Positron Emission Tomography/Computerized Tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) in Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) Patients is Predictive of Overall Survival. Clinical breast cancer 26(4):109-118, 2026. e-Pub 2026. PMID: 41895005.
- Iwase, T, Sridhar, N, Kai, M, Dong, W, Shen, Y, Krishnamurthy, S, Lucci, A, Le-Petross, H, Nasrazadani, A, Saleem, S, Layman, RM, Valero, V, Tripathy, D, Woodward, W, Cheng, YC, Nakhlis, F, Bellon, JR, Lynce, F, Ueno, NT. Neoadjuvant HER2-targeted Regimens with or without Anthracyclines for HER2-positive Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 214(1):69-77, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40753318.
- Kouzy, R, Kai, M, Le-Petross, HT, Saleem, S, Layman, RM, Lim, B, Nasrazadani, A, Saleem, S, Valero, V, Stauder, MC, Lucci, A, Sun, SX, Whitman, GJ, Patel, MM, Le-Petross, H, Lu, Y, Marx, AN, Alexander, A, Yajima, C, Kai, M, Villareal, L, Lopez, H, Woodward, W. Use of Natural Language Processing to Identify Patients with Inflammatory Breast Cancer Across a Health-care System. JNCI Cancer Spectrum 9(3), 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40493814.
- Yam C, Patel M, Hill HA, Sun R, Bassett RL Jr, Kong E, Damodaran S, Koenig KB, Abouharb S, Saleem S, Bisen AK, Murthy RK, Ramirez DL, Rauch GM, Adrada BE, Candelaria RP, Wang X, Mittendorf EA, Thompson AM, White JB, Ravenberg EE, Clayborn AR, Ding QQ, Booser DJ, Oke O, Brewster AM, Hortobagyi GN, Ibrahim NK, Litton JK, Valero V, Arun BK, Tripathy D, Chang JT, Chen K, Korkut A, Moulder SL, Huo L, Lim B, Ueno NT. Targeting the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Pathway in Chemotherapy-Resistant Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: A Phase II Study. Cancer Res Commun 4(10):2823-2834, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39356138.
- Nakhlis F, Niman SM, Ueno NT, Troll E, Ryan S, Yeh E, Warren L, Bellon J, Harrison B, Iwase T, Carisa Le-Petross HT, Saleem S, Teshome M, Whitman GJ, Woodward WA, Overmoyer B, Tolaney SM, Regan M, Lynce F, Layman RM. Clinical Outcomes after 1 Versus 2-3 Lines of Neoadjuvant Therapy in Stage III Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 204(2):289-297, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38155272.
- Nelson BE, Saleem S, Damodaran S, Somaiah N, Piha-Paul S, Moore JA, Yilmaz B, Ogbonna D, Karp DD, Ileana Dumbrava E, Tsimberidou AM, Hong DS, Rodon Ahnert J, Milton DR, Zheng X, Booser DJ, Ibrahim NK, Conley AP, Bhosale P, Rojas Hernandez CM, Tripathy D, Naing A, Meric-Bernstam F. Phase 1b Study of Combined Selinexor and Eribulin for the Treatment of Advanced Solid Tumors and Triple-negative Breast Cancer. Cancer 129(14):2201-2213, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37016732.
- Abuhadra N, Sun R, Yam C, Rauch GM, Ding Q, Lim B, Thompson AM, Mittendorf EA, Adrada BE, Damodaran S, Virani K, White J, Ravenberg E, Sun J, Choi J, Candelaria R, Arun B, Ueno NT, Santiago L, Saleem S, Abouharb S, Murthy RK, Ibrahim N, Sahin A, Valero V, Symmans WF, Litton JK, Tripathy D, Moulder S, Huo L. Predictive Roles of Baseline Stromal Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes and Ki-67 in Pathologic Complete Response in an Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Prospective Trial. Cancers (Basel) 15(13), 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37444385.
- Chen H, Ding Q, Khazai L, Zhao L, Damodaran S, Litton JK, Rauch GM, Yam C, Chang JT, Seth S, Lim B, Thompson AM, Mittendorf EA, Adrada B, Virani K, White JB, Ravenberg E, Song X, Candelaria R, Arun B, Ueno NT, Santiago L, Saleem S, Abouharb S, Murthy RK, Ibrahim N, Routbort MJ, Sahin A, Valero V, Symmans WF, Tripathy D, Wang WL, Moulder S, Huo L. PTEN in Triple-negative Breast Carcinoma: Protein expression and genomic alteration in pretreatment and post-treatment specimens. Ther Adv Med Oncol 15:17588359231189422, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37547448.
- Abuhadra N, Sun R, Litton JK, Rauch GM, Yam C, Chang JT, Seth S, Bassett R, Lim B, Thompson AM, Mittendorf E, Adrada BE, Damodaran S, White J, Ravenberg E, Candelaria R, Arun B, Ueno NT, Santiago L, Saleem S, Abouharb S, Murthy RK, Ibrahim N, Sahin AA, Valero V, Symmans WF, Tripathy D, Moulder S, Huo L. Prognostic Impact of High Baseline Stromal Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in the Absence of Pathologic Complete Response in Early-Stage Triple-negative Breast Cancer. Cancers (Basel) 14(5), 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35267631.
- Yam C, Rauch GM, Rahman T, Karuturi M, Ravenberg E, White J, Clayborn A, McCarthy P, Abouharb S, Lim B, Litton JK, Ramirez DL, Saleem S, Stec J, Symmans WF, Huo L, Damodaran S, Sun R, Moulder SL. A Phase II Study of Mirvetuximab Soravtansine in Triple-negative Breast Cancer. Invest New Drugs 39(2):509-515, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 32984932.
- Chainitikun S, Saleem S, Lim B, Valero V, Ueno NT. Update on Systemic Treatment for Newly Diagnosed Inflammatory Breast Cancer. J Adv Res 29:1-12, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33842000.
- Chainitikun S, Espinosa Fernandez JR, Long JP, Iwase T, Kida K, Wang X, Saleem S, Lim B, Valero V, Ueno NT. Pathological Complete Response of Adding Targeted Therapy to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Inflammatory Breast Cancer: A systematic review. PLoS One 16(4):e0250057, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33861773.
Abstracts
- Yam C, Radko A, Huo L, Akshara S, Ohanjanyan E, Yudina A, Kushnarev V, Hill H, Abouharb S, Adrada B, Arun B, Barcenas CH, Bisen A, Brewster A, Buzdar A, Gregor M, Damodaran S, Garber H, Guirguis M, Hassan A, Ibrahim N, Karuturi M, Kong E, Layman R, Moscol G, Mouabbi J, Murthy R, Nasrazadani A, Nelson B, Iheme AN, Oke O, Patel M, Pohlmann P, Ramirez D, Saleem S, Sukumar J, Sun J, Thomas P, Walters R, Wei P, Williams M, Wright M, Woodward W, Hunt K, Litton J, Valero V, Tripathy D, Rauch GM, Goldberg M, Korkut A. Circulating Immune Correlates of Pathological Response to Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab plus Chemotherapy in High-Risk, Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer. Clin Cancer Res 32(4 Supplement), 2026. e-Pub 2026.
- Yam C, Patel M, Sun J, Adrada BE, Raghavendra AS, Litton JK, Mouabbi JA, Iheme AN, Saleem S, Moscol G, Wright MD, Buzdar A, Murthy RK, Korkut A, Valero V, Tripathy D, Moseley TW, Wei P, Huo L, M Rauch AG. Early On-treatment (on-Rx) Tumor Volume Reduction (TVR) to Predict Response to the KEYNOTE-522 (KN-522) Regimen in Early Stage Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). J Clin Oncol 43(16 Supplemental:592), 2025. e-Pub 2025.
- Saleem S. Phase Ib Study of Selinexor and Eribulin Combination in Advanced Solid Tumors and Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Clinical Trials, 2022. e-Pub 2022.
- Upadhyay R, Alexander A, Ye Q, Chen K, Yam C, Hogan GJ, Zhang S, LaBella ML, Ratzel S, Lucci A, Woodward WA, Lim B, Layman R, Nasrazadani A, Saleem S, Valero V, Stauder MC, Sun SX, Whitman GJ, Patel M, Le-Petross H, Lu Y, Marx A, Yajima C, Kai M, Villareal L, Lopez H. Ultrasensitive ctDNA-based MRD Monitoring Anticipates Felapse in Postoperative HR+ Inflammatory Breast Cancer. San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
- Murray S, Nasrazadani A, Yam C, Alexander A, Smirnov V, Baranov O, Love A, Paradiso F, Hensley M, Woodward W, Lim B, Layman R, Saleem S, Valero V, Stauder MC, Lucci A, Sun SX, Whitman GJ, Patel M, Le-Petross H, Lu Y, Marx A, Alexander A, Yajima C, Kai M, Villareal L, Lopez H. TROP2 Expression and Therapeutic Opportunities in Inflammatory Breast Cancer. San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
- Ramezani S, Le-Petross H, Naser M, Young R, Morris K, Kai M, Stauder MC, Lim B, Lucci A, Fuller CD, Woodward W, Goodman C, Layman R, Nasrazadani A, Saleem S, Valero V, Sun SX, Whitman GJ, Patel M, Lu Y, Marx A, Alexander A, Yajima C, Villareal L, Lopez H. Deep Learning Classification of Inflammatory Breast Cancer Using Multiparametric MRI: A Multi-Sequence Analysis. San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
- Alexander A, Kai M, Lucci A, Woodward WA, Saleem S, Cancer Team TMIB. IBC Clear: A Decentralized Multi-center MRD Registry for Inflammatory Breast Cancer. San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
- Westin SN, Litton J, Williams R, Shepherd CJ, Brugger W, Pease EJ, Soliman P, Frumovitz M, Levenback C, Sood A, Moulder S, Valero V, Saleem S, Rodriguez A, Cyriac A, Engerman L, Samuel C, Mills G, Coleman R. Phase 1 Trial off Olaparib (PARP inhibitor) and Vistusertib (mTORC1/2 inhibitor) in Recurrent Endometrial, Ovarian and Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified July 22, 2026