Monica Desai, MD
Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Genitourinary Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Assistant Professor, Genitourinary Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2008 | Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, US, Internal Medicine, MD |
| 2004 | Rice University, Houston, Texas, US, Biology, BA |
Postgraduate Training
| 2012-2014 | Clinical Fellowship, Hematology/Oncology (co-Chief Fellow 2012-2014), Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri |
| 2011-2012 | Clinical Fellowship, Hematology/Oncology, The University of Texas-Southwestern, Dallas, Texas |
| 2009-2011 | Clinical Residency, Internal Medicine, Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri |
| 2008-2009 | Clinical Internship, Internal Medicine, Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri |
Licenses & Certifications
| 2023 | Monica Desai, TX |
| 2014 | American Board of Internal Medicine in Hematology |
| 2014 | American Board of Internal Medicine in Oncology |
| 2012 | Monica Dandona |
| 2011 | American Board in Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine |
| 2011 | Monica Dandona Desai |
Experience & Service
Other Professional Positions
Leadership Position in Developing Research Infrastructure Across all Houston Area Locations, University of Texas at MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2025 - Present
Physician Leader for Houston Methodist West Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee, Methodist West (HMW) Hospital, Houston, TX, 2021 - 2023
Medical Director of Oncology Program Development & Outreach, Methodist West (HMW) Hospital, Houston, 2019 - 2023
Medical Oncology Cancer Committee for Methodist West Hospital, Methodist West Hospital (MWH), Houston, TX, 2019 - 2023
Oncologist and Hematologist, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, 2019 - 2023
Medical Oncology NAPBC Accreditation for HMW Hospital, Methodist West (HMW) Hospital, Houston, TX, 2019 - 2023
Medical Oncology Leader for Rectal Cancer Center of Excellence, Memorial Hermann Memorial City, Houston, TX, 2017 - 2019
Moderator of Bimonthly Rectal Cancer Tumor Board, Memorial Hermann Memorial City, Houston, TX, 2017 - 2019
Medical Executive Committee Member, St. Luke's Hospital, St. Louis, MO, 2016 - 2017
Blood Utilization Review Committee Member, St. Luke's Hospital, St. Louis, MO, 2015 - 2017
Chair of Universal Lynch Cancer Screening Policy, St. Luke's Hospital, St. Louis, MO, 2015 - 2017
Oncology Steering Committee Member, St. Luke's Hospital, St. Louis, MO, 2015 - 2017
Head of Internal Medicine Residency Board Review Series, St. Luke's Hospital, St. Louis, MO, 2015 - 2017
Intramural Institutional Committee Activities
Member, IO TOX Steering Committee for clinical effectiveness in GI toxicities, MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2025 - Present
Honors & Awards
| 2014 | Missouri Oncology Society Outstanding Fellow Award, Missouri Oncology Society |
| 2012 | Young Investigator Award for Research, American Pancreatic Association and Japan Pancreas Society |
| 2008 | Baylor College of Medicine Matthew Carter Award for Community Service and Outreach, Baylor College of Medicine |
| 2007 | Baylor College of Medicine Competitive Award for Academic Excellence, Baylor College of Medicine |
| 2003 | Phi Beta Kappa Rice University Chapter for Academic Excellence, Rice University |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
Regional Presentations
- 2026. Metastatic Disease Update. Invited. Orthopaedic Oncology Webinar Series.
- 2018. Breast Cancer Risk Reduction. Conference. Breast Cancer Risk Reduction. Katy, TX, US.
National Presentations
- 2008. Cocaine-Induced Hepatotoxicity: A Case Report and Review of Literature. Conference. Cocaine-Induced Hepatotoxicity: A Case Report and Review of Literature. Washington, DC, US.
International Presentations
- 2009. Body mass index on survival outcomes in patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic carcinoma. Conference. Body mass index on survival outcomes in patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic carcinoma, US.
Formal Peers
- 2018. Breast Cancer after Treatment of Hodgkin Lymphoma: The 5 W’s. Invited. Houston, TX, US.
- 2010. Obesity in Pancreatic Cancer: A Double-edged Sword?. Invited. St. Louis, MO, US.
Grant & Contract Support
| Date: | 2026 - 2026 |
| Title: | Monitoring the Clinical Course and Outcomes of Patients with Genitourinary Cancers at Risk for Bone-Related Complications |
| Funding Source: | MD Anderson-Victory Houston, Inc |
| Role: | PI |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Thomas Z, Glover M, Johns AC, Crupi E, Lin J, Shah AY, Moussa MJ, Jiang CY, Desai M, Ward JF, Karam JA, Hofstetter WL, Choi SL, Nieto YL, Alhalabi O, Campbell MT. Utility of Circulating Tumor DNA as a Monitoring Tool for Marker-Negative Germ Cell Tumors and Somatic Type Malignancies. Clin Genitourin Cancer:102650, 2026. e-Pub 2026. PMID: 42692966.
- Thomas Z, Johns AC, Glover M, Crupi E, Nieto YL, Ward JF, Karam JA, Hofstetter WL, Desai M, Choi SL, Shah AY, Lin J, Moussa MJ, Jiang CY, Alhalabi O, Campbell MT. Divergent biology and outcomes of somatic transformations in germ cell tumors. Oncologist 31(8), 2026. e-Pub 2026. PMID: 42378441.
- Venkatesh N, Chauhan PK, Mukhida SS, Grewal K, Aparicio A, Pilie PG, Subudhi SK, Corn PG, Sachdeva A, Desai M, Siddiqui BA, Zurita AJ, Pain D, Gregg JR, Frigo DE, Logothetis CJ, Msaouel P, Koutroumpakis E, Hahn AW. Evaluating Clinical Tools to Monitor Cardiovascular Risk in Men With Prostate Cancer Receiving Hormone Therapy. JCO Oncol Pract:OP2500506, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 41202201.
- Siefker-Radtke AO, Desai M. Evolution of front-line immunotherapy for metastatic urothelial cancer. Lancet Oncol 25(1):2-3, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38101432.
- Chung C, Rome A, Desai M, Abanonu F, De la Casas C. Optimizing Multidisciplinary Treatment-Related Adverse Effects Detection and Reduction in Patients Undergoing Active Cancer Treatments in Ambulatory Infusion Centers. JCO Oncol Pract 18(9):e1553-e1561, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35776902.
- Ademuyiwa FO, Salyer P, Tao Y, Luo J, Hensing WL, Afolalu A, Peterson LL, Weilbaecher K, Housten AJ, Baumann AA, Desai M, Jones S, Linnenbringer E, Plichta J, Bierut L. Genetic Counseling and Testing in African American Patients with Breast Cancer: A Nationwide Survey of US Breast Oncologists. J Clin Oncol 39(36):4020, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34662201.
- Economides MP, Shah AY, Jimenez C, Habra MA, Desai M, Campbell MT. A Durable Response With the Combination of Nivolumab and Cabozantinib in a Patient With Metastatic Paraganglioma: A Case Report and Review of the Current Literature. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) 11:594264, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33329398.
- Amin M, Desai M, Trinkaus K, Brown A, Wang-Gillam A, Tan B, Picus J, Sorscher S, Highkin M, Lears K, Lockhart AC. Phase II trial of levocetirizine with capecitabine and bevacizumab to overcome the resistance of antiangiogenic therapies in refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. J Gastrointest Oncol 10(3):412-420, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31183190.
- Dandona M, Linehan D, Hawkins W, Strasberg S, Gao F, Wang-Gillam A. Influence of obesity and other risk factors on survival outcomes in patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic cancer. Pancreas 40(6):931-7, 2011. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21747317.
- Dandona M, Gao F, Linehan DC, Wang-Gillam A. Re: ABO blood group and the risk of pancreatic cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 102(2):135-7; author reply 137, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20019335.
- Dandona MA, Morgensztern D, Auethevekiat V, Adkins D, Thorstad W, Nussenbaum B, Zhang Q, Kuperman DI. Survival for Nasopharyngeal Cancer Presenting With Metastatic Disease 27(15), 2009. e-Pub 2009.
Review Articles
- Desai MD, Saroya BS, Lockhart AC. Investigational therapies targeting the ErbB (EGFR, HER2, HER3, HER4) family in GI cancers. Expert Opin Investig Drugs 22(3):341-56, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23316969.
- Subramanian J, Madadi AR, Dandona M, Williams K, Morgensztern D, Govindan R. Review of ongoing clinical trials in non-small cell lung cancer: a status report for 2009 from the ClinicalTrials.gov website. J Thorac Oncol 5(8):1116-9, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20592626.
Other Articles
- A.W. Hahn, J. Chahoud, W.P. Skelto, Y. Yuan, A.J. Zurita, C. Kovitz, O. Alhalabi, M.T. Campbell, E. Jonasch, J. Lin, M. Desai, M.J.M.N. Santos, H. Hwang, P.G. Corn, P. Msaouel, N. M. Tannir A multicenter randomized phase II trial of lenvatinib plus everolimus versus cabozantinib in patients with metastatic clear-cell RCC that progressed on PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibition (LenCabo). Annals of Oncology. PMID: 41115467.
Abstracts
- Desai Monica. CONSOLIDATE: Concurrent Radiotherapy with Enfortumab vedotin (EV) for Locally Advanced Bladder Cancer. 2025 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting.
- Desai Monica. Body composition and quality of life (QOL) with lenvatinib + everolimus (len + eve) versus cabozantinib (cabo) in metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) after PD-1 inhibitor progression: Results from the randomized phase II LenCabo trial. ASCO Annual Meeting 2026.
- Desai Monica. Integrated Clinical and Genomic Analysis of Mediastinal Germ Cell Tumors (GCT) with Somatic Transformation (SM): A Multi-Institutional Cohort study. ASCO 2026.
- Desai Monica. Evaluating current multidisciplinary practices around pathologic vertebral fractures, fracture risk assessment, AI-solutions, current and future guidelines: a multi-institutional analysis. AANS 2026.
- Jianbo Wang, Andrew Johns, Omar Alhalabi, Jianjun Gao, Sangeeta Goswami, Andrew Warren Hahn, Eric Jonasch, Matthew T. Campbell, Monica Dandona Desai, John Kent Lin, Pavlos Msaouel, Amishi Yogesh Shah, Amado J. Zurita, Nizar M. Tannir. A phase II trial of Nivolumab, Ipilimumab and Cabozantinib in patients with brain metastases from renal cell carcinoma. 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
- Zachariah Thomas, Andrew Johns, Michael Glover, Emanuele Crupi, John Kent Lin, John Francis Ward, Jose A. Karam, Wayne L. Hofstetter, Monica Dandona Desai, Seungtaek Choi, Amishi Yogesh Shah, Yago Nieto, Mohammad Jad Moussa, Cindy Y. Jiang, Omar Alhalabi, Matthew T. Campbell. Divergent Biology and Outcomes of Somatic Transformations (SM) in Germ Cell Tumors (GCT). 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
- Andrew Johns, Ruitao Lin, Lindsey Johnson, Jianping Zhao, Wei-Lien Wang, Eric Jonasch, Matthew T. Campbell, Amishi Yogesh Shah, Amado J. Zurita, Andrew Warren Hahn, Nizar M. Tannir, Monica Dandona Desai, John Kent Lin, David Marin, Rafet Basar, May Dahe, Elizabeth J. Shpall, Katy Rezvani, Pavlos Msaouel. TANKeR-70: TGF-β-receptor type 2 knockout Allogeneic NK cells for Renal cell carcinoma expressing CD70. 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
- Zachariah Thomas, Michael Glover, Andrew Johns, Mohammad Jad Moussa, Emanuele Crupi, John Kent Lin, John Francis Ward, Jose A. Karam, Wayne L. Hofstetter, Seungtaek Choi, Yago Nieto, Monica Dandona Desai, Amishi Yogesh Shah, Cindy Y. Jiang, Omar Alhalabi, Matthew T. Campbell. Circulating Tumor DNA(ctDNA) as a Real-Time Biomarker in Marker-Negative Germ Cell Tumors(GCT): A Proof-of-Concept Study. 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
- Zachariah Thomas, Cindy Y. Jiang, Patrick Speck, Mohammad Jad Moussa, Emanuele Crupi, Jianjun Gao, Monica Dandona Desai, Amishi Yogesh Shah, Sangeeta Goswami,, Arlene O. Siefker-Radtke, Andrew Johns, Michael Glover, Christopher Logothetis, Pavlos Msaouel,, Ashley Aaroe, Anisha B Patel, Matthew T. Campbell, Omar Alhalabi. Correlation of Adverse Events (AEs) and Clinical Outcomes in First-Line Enfortumab Vedotin–Pembrolizumab (EVP) Treatment for Locally Advanced or Metastatic Urothelial Cancer (La/mUC). 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified September 10, 2026