Meet Neal Akhave, M.D.
Neal S. Akhave, M.D.
Department of Thoracic-Head & Neck Med Onc, Division of Cancer Medicine
About Dr. Neal S. Akhave
Dr. Akhave graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine in 2013 (B.A., Liberal Arts) and 2014 (M.D.). He completed his internal medicine residency at Washington University/Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis in 2017 and then participated in a post-doctoral research fellowship with Lukas Wartman, MD understanding the role of epigenetic modifiers in lung adenocarcinoma. He then completed his Hematology/Oncology fellowship at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 2022. In 2022, Dr. Akhave was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Thoracic/Head & Neck Medical Oncology. As a clinical investigator, Dr. Akhave designs and oversees clinical trials to improve the available treatments for patients. He has a particular focus on oral cavity tumors and rare skull base tumors, including those involving the anterior and lateral skull base. Further, Dr Akhave has a specific focus on the management of non-melanoma skin cancers, including advanced basal cell carcinomas, squamous cell carcinoma, and Merkel cell carcinoma.
Dr. Akhave’s research includes identifying novel therapeutics and predictive biomarkers for patients with head/neck and skin malignancies.
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Assistant Professor, Investigational Cancer Therapeutics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Assistant Professor, Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Assistant Professor, Investigational Cancer Therapeutics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2014 | University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Medicine, Missouri, Kansas, US, MD |
| 2014 | University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Medicine, Missouri, Kansas, US, Bachelor's Degree, Liberal Arts, BA |
Postgraduate Training
| 2019-2022 | Clinical Fellowship, Hematology/Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas |
| 2017-2019 | Research Associate, Laboratory of Lukas Wartman, Division of Oncology, Section of Bone Marrow Transplant, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri |
| 2014-2017 | Residency, Internal Medicine, Barnes Jewish Hospital/Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri |
Licenses & Certifications
| 2025 | American Heart Association |
| 2025 | Drug Enforcement Administration |
| 2023 | Medical Oncology, American Board of Internal Medicine |
| 2023 | Hematology, American Board of Internal Medicine |
| 2022 | Texas Medical Board |
| 2019 | Texas Medical Board (Physician in Training) |
| 2017 | American Board of Internal Medicine |
| 2017 | Missouri Medical Board |
| 2014 | Missouri Medical Board |
Experience & Service
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Associate Medical Director, Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 2026 - Present
Director of Clinical Research, Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2025 - Present
Head and Neck Medical Oncology Clerkship Leader, Thoracic-Head & Neck Med Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 2025 - 2026
Senator, Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2023 - 2024
Other Professional Positions
Oncology Chief Fellow, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Hematology, Houston, TX, 2021 - 2022
Internal Medicine Hospitalist, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 2017 - 2019
Extramural Institutional Committee Activities
Member, NRG Subcommittee, Recurrent/Metastatic H&N Cancer Working Group, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2023 - Present
Head & Neck Medical Oncology Leader, Head & Neck Service Line, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2022 - Present
THNMO Faculty Champion, Deep6 Clinical Trial Recommender, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2022 - 2023
Honors & Awards
| 2014 | Gold Humanism Honor Society, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine |
| 2013 | Alpha Omega Alpha, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
Local Presentations
- 2025. Solid Tumor Q & A – Session 3: Lung Cancer/ Head and Neck Cancer/Thyroid Cancer - Session: Neuro-Onc | Gynecologic Oncology. Invited. 2025 Comprehensive Board Review in Hematology and Medical Oncology. Houston, Texas, US.
Regional Presentations
- 2024. Head and Neck Cancer. Invited. 2024 BEST of ASCO. Grapevine, TX, US.
National Presentations
- 2025. Treatment Paradigms for Advanced Temporal Bone Malignancies. Invited. North American Skull Base Society NASBS 34th Annual Meeting. New Orleans, Louisiana, US.
- 2025. Update on Olfactory Neuroblastoma and Neuroendocrine Tumors. Invited. North American Skull Base Society NASBS 34th Annual Meeting. New Orleans, Louisiana, US.
- 2024. Head and Neck Cancer. Invited. BEST of ASCO 2024. Grapevine, Texas, US.
- 2024. Induction Chemotherapy – What are the Indications?. Invited. North American Skull Base Society 33rd Annual Meeting. Atlanta, Georgia, US.
- 2021. Integrated Multi-platform Profiling of Early-stage Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Identifies Relationship between Disease Recurrence and Decreased Native Immune Response in Treatment-naïve Resected NSCLC, Poster Presentation. Invited. American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Meeting 2021, US.
International Presentations
- 2025. Current Clinical Trials in Sinonasal Malignancies in Europe. Invited. EUSICA/INSAICA-Brain - REFCOR Meeting Paris 2025. Paris, FR.
- 2024. Tisotumab vedotin in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: updated analysis from innovaTV 207 Part C. Invited. Fukuoka, JP.
- 2024. Clinical Trials and Precision Medicine Tools. Invited. EUSICA/INSICA-Brain Meeting. Excel, GB.
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Hamidi S, Maniakas A, Akhave NS, Banuchi VE, Busaidy NL, Dadu R, Ferrarotto R, Guise TA, Hofmann MC, Hosseini SM, Hu MI, Iyer PC, Mansour M, Marczyk VR, Roy-Chowdhuri S, Sherman SI, Sousa LG, Wang JR, Williams MD, Zafereo ME, Waguespack SG, Cabanillas ME. Characterization of Advanced RAS-driven Follicular-derived Thyroid Cancers and Review of Future Therapeutic Avenues. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 111(2):471-483, 2026. e-Pub 2026. PMID: 40568752.
- London NR Jr, Hanna GJ, Akhave NS, Choby G, Devriese LA, Ferrand FR, Gallia GL, Li L, Moya-Plana A, Rehman U, Takeda T, Thariat J, Woods RSR, Verillaud B, Lechner M. International network for sinonasal cancer research (INSICA): a collaborative group to advance research and clinical trials for rare sinonasal malignancies. J Natl Cancer Inst, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 41405839.
- Esmaeli B, Fan J, Goldberg H, Lu T, Gross ND, Akhave N, Sousa LG, Ferrarotto R. Immune checkpoint inhibitors with or without chemotherapy for orbital, conjunctival, and ocular adnexal squamous cell carcinoma. Can J Ophthalmol, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39043259.
- Goldfarb J, Fan J, de Sousa LG, Akhave N, Myers J, Goepfert R, Manisundaram K, Zhao J, Frank SJ, Moreno A, Ferrarotto R, Esmaeli B. Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Alone or Combined with EGFR-Directed Targeted Therapy or Anti-PD-1 Immunotherapy for Locally Advanced Lacrimal Sac and Nasolacrimal Duct Carcinomas. Semin Ophthalmol:1-7, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38500295.
- Dohopolski MJ, Diao K, Hutcheson KA, Akhave NS, Goepfert RP, He W, Lei XJ, Peterson SK, Shen Y, Sumer BD, Smith BD, Sher DJ. Long-term Patient-Reported Outcomes in a Population-Based Cohort Following Radiotherapy vs Surgery for Oropharyngeal Cancer. JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 149(8):697-707, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37382943.
- Negrao MV, Araujo HA, Lamberti G, Cooper AJ, Akhave NS, Zhou T, Delasos L, Hicks JK, Aldea M, Minuti G, Hines J, Aredo JV, Dennis MJ, Chakrabarti T, Scott SC, Bironzo P, Scheffler M, Christopoulos P, Stenzinger A, Riess JW, Kim SY, Goldberg SB, Li M, Wang Q, Qing Y, Ni Y, Do MT, Lee R, Ricciuti B, Alessi JV, Wang J, Resuli B, Landi L, Tseng SC, Nishino M, Digumarthy SR, Rinsurongkawong W, Rinsurongkawong V, Vaporciyan AA, Blumenschein GR, Zhang J, Owen DH, Blakely CM, Mountzios G, Shu CA, Bestvina CM, Garassino MC, Marrone KA, Gray JE, Patel SP, Cummings AL, Wakelee HA, Wolf J, Scagliotti GV, Cappuzzo F, Barlesi F, Patil PD, Drusbosky L, Gibbons DL, Meric-Bernstam F, Lee JJ, Heymach JV, Hong DS, Heist RS, Awad MM, Skoulidis F. Comutations and KRASG12C Inhibitor Efficacy in Advanced NSCLC. Cancer Discov 13(7):1556-1571, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37068173.
- Akhave N, Zhang J, Bayley E, Frank M, Chiou SH, Behrens C, Chen R, Hu X, Parra ER, Lee WC, Swisher S, Solis L, Weissferdt A, Moran C, Kalhor N, Zhang J, Scheet P, Vaporciyan AA, Sepesi B, Gibbons DL, Heymach JV, Lee JJ, Wistuba II, Andrew Futreal P, Zhang J, Fujimoto J, Reuben A. Immunogenomic Profiling of Lung Adenocarcinoma Reveals Poorly Differentiated Tumors are Associated with an Immunogenic Tumor Microenvironment. Lung Cancer 172:19-28, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35973335.
- Schmidt ST, Akhave N, Knightly RE, Reuben A, Vokes N, Zhang J, Li J, Fujimoto J, Byers LA, Sanchez-Espiridion B, Diao L, Wang J, Federico L, Forget MA, McGrail DJ, Weissferdt A, Lin SY, Lee Y, Suzuki E, Kovacs JJ, Behrens C, Wistuba II, Futreal A, Vaporciyan A, Sepesi B, Heymach JV, Bernatchez C, Haymaker C, Cascone T, Zhang J, Bristow CA, Heffernan TP, Negrao MV, Gibbons DL, Team I. Shared Nearest Neighbors Approach and Interactive Browser for Network Analysis of a Comprehensive Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Data Set. JCO Clin Cancer Inform 6:e2200040, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35944232.
- Paul S, Jammal N, Akhave N, Aung PP, Loghavi S, Jain N, Garcia-Manero G, Borthakur G, Verstovsek S, Jabbour E, Adachi J, Masarova L, Daver N, Ravandi F, Pemmaraju N. Atypical Cases of Necrotizing Sweet Syndrome in Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Br J Haematol 191(1):e10-e13, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32686139.
Review Articles
- Akhave NS, Biter AB, Hong DS. The Next Generation of KRAS Targeting: Reasons for Excitement and Concern. Mol Cancer Ther 21(11):1645-1651, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36282862.
- Akhave NS, Biter AB, Hong DS. Mechanisms of Resistance to KRAS(G12C)-Targeted Therapy. Cancer Discov 11(6):1345-1352, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33820777.
Abstracts
- Esmaeli B, Fan J, Goldberg H, Lu T, Akhave N, de Sousa LG, Ferrarotto R. Immunotherapy for local/regional control of locally advanced orbital and periocular squamous cell carcinoma, 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting, Publication. J Clin Oncol 42(16 S), 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Hester RH, Stone D, Smith-Graziani DJ, Wiele AJ, Cordero-Hernandez, Akhave N, Swails JL, Bull JMC, Patel TA. Evaluation of an Oncology Diagnostic and Screening Clinic at a Large Safety Net Hospital. 2021 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, J Clin Onco 39(S28), 2022. e-Pub 2022.
- Bauman J, Licitra L, Keam B, Bauman J, Lin V, Akhave NS, Fayette J, Neupane P, Soudy H, Cho BC, Chung C, Saba N, Wong D, Harrington K, Tourneau CL, Muggeo S, Jin B, Lebedinsky C, Braendle E, Haddad R. FIERCE-HN: A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 study of ficlatuzumab (HGF/cMET MAb) in combination with cetuximab in participants with recurrent or metastatic (R/M) HPV negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting.
- Cunha MT, Flynt L, Sewastjanow-Silva M, Wang K, Phan J, Chen M, Sousa L, Akhave NS, Williams M, Hanna E, Su S, Ferrarotto. Outcomes with 177 lutetium-dotatate (177Lu-dotatate) in olfactory neuroblastoma (ONB): A case series. 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified July 22, 2026