Ahsan Farooqi, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Division of Radiation Oncology
About Dr. Ahsan Farooqi
Dr. Ahsan Farooqi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Before his appointment as faculty, he received his MD and PhD at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine (Lubbock, TX), followed by residency training at the University of Texas Dell Medical School (Austin, TX) and MD Anderson Cancer Center.
In his appointment to the Melanoma & Sarcoma Radiation Oncology section he specializes in the treatment of bone and soft tissue sarcomas, melanomas, and other non-melanoma skin malignancies. He has clinical expertise in a variety of standard and specialized radiation treatment modalities including intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT/VMAT), proton therapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), and 3D conformal radiation (photons/electrons).
His research is focused on identifying novel ways to combine radiation therapy with targeted agents such as DNA-damage response inhibitors and immunotherapy, to improve outcomes of patients. He has received funding from extramural sources including the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and his research has been presented at international conferences and published across a variety of peer-reviewed medical journals.
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2015 | Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, Lubbock, TX, USA, MD, Medicine |
| 2013 | Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Lubbock, TX, USA, PHD, Cell and Molecular Biology |
| 2008 | Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA, BS, Biomedical Sciences |
Postgraduate Training
| 2016-2020 | Clinical Residency, Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
| 2015-2016 | Clinical Internship, Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Dell Medical School, Austin, TX |
Board Certifications
| 2021 | American Board of Radiology |
Experience & Service
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Co-Director Radiation Biology Course, Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2020 - Present
Institutional Committee Activities
Member, Faculty Senate, 2021 - Present
Member, Division of Radiation Oncology Safety Committee, 2021 - Present
Melanoma/Sarcoma Radiation Oncology Network Lead, MD Anderson Cancer Network, 2021 - Present
Honors & Awards
| 2018 | Resident Research Grant, Radiological Society of North America |
| 2017 | Leonard B. Holman Research Pathway Scholar, American Board of Radiology |
| 2014 | Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine |
| 2012 | Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Fellow and Scholar, Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation |
| 2011 | Science Program for Excellence in Science Scholarship, American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| 2006 | President's Scholarship, Texas A&M University |
| 2005 | Valedictorian, Killeen High School |
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Florez MA, De B, Cavazos A, Farooqi A, Beckham TH, Wang C, Yeboa DN, Bishop AJ, McAleer MF, Briere T, Amini B, Li J, Tatsui CE, Rhines LD, Ghia AJ. Safety and Efficacy of Dose-Escalated Radiation Therapy With a Simultaneous Integrated Boost for the Treatment of Spinal Metastases. Pract Radiat Oncol 13(1):e7-e13, 2023. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36604100.
- Farooqi AS, Guadagnolo BA, Mitra D, Bishop AJ. Radiation Therapy for Retroperitoneal Sarcomas: A Strass-Ful Situation. Current Oncology, 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- Mitra D, Farr M, Nagarajan P, Ho J, Bishop AJ, Jhingran A, Farooqi AS, Frumovitz M, Amaria RN, McQuade JL, Jazaeri AA, Guadagnolo BA. Gynecologic tract melanoma in the contemporary therapeutic era: high rates of local and distant disease progression. Gynecol Oncol 167(3):483-489, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36229264.
- Guadagnolo BA, Bassett RL, Mitra D, Farooqi A, Hempel C, Dorber C, Willis T, Wang WL, Ratan R, Somaiah N, Benjamin RS, Torres KE, Hunt KK, Scally CP, Keung EZ, Satcher RL, Bird JE, Lin PP, Moon BS, Lewis VO, Roland CL, Bishop AJ. Hypofractionated, 3-week, preoperative radiotherapy for patients with soft tissue sarcomas (HYPORT-STS): a single-centre, open-label, single-arm, phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol 23(12):1547-1557, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36343656.
- Bishop AJ, Amini B, Lin H, Raza SM, Patel S, Grosshans DR, Ghia A, Farooqi A, Guadagnolo BA, Mitra D, Akdemir KC, Lazar AJ, Wang WL, Alvarez-Breckenridge C, Bird J, Rhines LD, Somaiah N, Conley AP. Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors Have Clinical Activity in Patients With Recurrent Chordoma. J Immunother 45(8):374-378, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35943386.
- Bishop AJ, Zheng J, Subramaniam A, Ghia AJ, Wang C, McGovern SL, Patel S, Guadagnolo BA, Mitra D, Farooqi A, Reardon MJ, Kim B, Guha-Thakurta N, Li J, Ravi V. Cardiac Angiosarcomas: Risk of Brain Metastasis and Hemorrhage Warrants Frequent Surveillance Imaging and Early Intervention. Am J Clin Oncol 45(6):258-263, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35588225.
- Boyce-Fappiano D, Damron EP, Farooqi A, Mitra D, Conley AP, Somaiah N, Araujo DM, Livingston JA, Ratan R, Keung EZ, Roland CL, Guadagnolo BA, Bishop AJ. Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy for Unresectable or Metastatic Sarcoma Lesions. Adv Radiat Oncol 7(3):100913, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35647398.
- Antonoff MB, Feldman HA, Mitchell KG, Farooqi A, Ludmir EB, Hofstetter WL, Mehran RJ, Rajaram R, Rice DC, Sepesi B, Swisher SG, Walsh GL, Gandhi S, Gomez DR, Vaporciyan AA. Surgical Complexity of Pulmonary Resections Performed for Oligometastatic NSCLC. JTO Clin Res Rep 3(3):100288, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35252897.
- Ho J, Mattei J, Tetzlaff M, Williams MD, Davies MA, Diab A, Oliva ICG, McQuade J, Patel SP, Tawbi H, Wong MK, Fisher SB, Hanna E, Keung EZ, Ross M, Weiser R, Su SY, Frumovitz M, Meyer LA, Jazaeri A, Pettaway CA, Guadagnolo BA, Bishop AJ, Mitra D, Farooqi A, Bassett R, Faria S, Nagarajan P, Amaria RN. Neoadjuvant Checkpoint Inhibitor Immunotherapy for Resectable Mucosal Melanoma. Front Oncol 12:1001150, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36324592.
- Koneru B, Farooqi A, Nguyen TH, Chen WH, Hindle A, Eslinger C, Makena MR, Burrow TA, Wilson J, Smith A, Pilla Reddy V, Cadogan E, Durant ST, Reynolds CP. ALT neuroblastoma chemoresistance due to telomere dysfunction-induced ATM activation is reversible with ATM inhibitor AZD0156. Sci Transl Med 13(607), 2021. PMID: 34408079.
- Mitra D, Ologun G, Keung EZ, Goepfert RP, Amaria RN, Ross MI, Gershenwald JE, Lucci A, Fisher SB, Davies MA, Lee JE, Bishop AJ, Farooqi AS, Wargo J, Guadagnolo BA. Nodal Recurrence is a Primary Driver of Early Relapse for Patients with Sentinel Lymph Node-Positive Melanoma in the Modern Therapeutic Era. Ann Surg Oncol 28(7):3480-3489, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33856603.
- Mitchell KG, Farooqi A, Ludmir EB, Corsini EM, Sepesi B, Gomez DR, Antonoff MB, MD Anderson Cancer Center Oligometastatic Lung Cancer Working Group. Pulmonary resection is associated with long-term survival and should remain a therapeutic option in oligometastatic lung cancer. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 161(4):1497-1504.e2, 2021. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32331820.
- Boyce-Fappiano D, Guadagnolo BA, Ratan R, Wang WL, Wagner MJ, Patel S, Livingston JA, Lin PP, Diao K, Mitra D, Farooqi A, Lazar AJ, Roland CL, Bishop AJ. Evaluating the Soft Tissue Sarcoma Paradigm for the Local Management of Extraskeletal Ewing Sarcoma. Oncologist 26(3):250-260, 2021. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33289298.
- Koneru B, Lopez G, Farooqi A, Conkrite KL, Nguyen TH, Macha SJ, Modi A, Rokita JL, Urias E, Hindle A, Davidson H, Mccoy K, Nance J, Yazdani V, Irwin MS, Yang S, Wheeler DA, Maris JM, Diskin SJ, Reynolds CP. Telomere Maintenance Mechanisms Define Clinical Outcome in High-Risk Neuroblastoma. Cancer Res 80(12):2663-2675, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32291317.
- Farooqi A, Mitra D, Guadagnolo BA, Bishop AJ. The Evolving Role of Radiation Therapy in Patients with Metastatic Soft Tissue Sarcoma. Curr Oncol Rep 22(8):79, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32602007.
- Farooqi A, Li J, de Groot J, Yeboa DN. Current Role of Radiation Therapy in the Management of Malignant Central Nervous System Tumors. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am 34(1):13-28, 2020. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31739940.
- Mitchell KG, Farooqi A, Ludmir EB, Corsini EM, Zhang J, Sepesi B, Vaporciyan AA, Swisher SG, Heymach JV, Zhang J, Gomez DR, Antonoff MB. Improved Overall Survival With Comprehensive Local Consolidative Therapy in Synchronous Oligometastatic Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer. Clin Lung Cancer 21(1):37-46.e7, 2020. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31447303.
- Farooqi A, Yang J, Sharin V, Ezhilarasan R, Danussi C, Alvarez C, Dharmaiah S, Irvin D, Huse J, Sulman EP. Identification of patient-derived glioblastoma stem cell (GSC) lines with the alternative lengthening of telomeres phenotype. Acta Neuropathol Commun 7(1):76, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31097032.
- Farooqi A, Bishop AJ, Narang S, Allen PK, Li J, McAleer MF, Tatsui CE, Rhines LD, Amini B, Wang XA, Ghia AJ. Outcomes After Hypofractionated Dose-Escalation using a Simultaneous Integrated Boost Technique for Treatment of Spine Metastases Not Amenable to Stereotactic Radiosurgery. Pract Radiat Oncol 9(2):e142-e148, 2019. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30385151.
- Farooqi A, Sun TL, Thang S, Shaitelman SF. Treatment of bilateral breast cancer and regional nodes using an opposed lateral beam arrangement. Pract Radiat Oncol 7(6):e385-e389, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28867548.
- Farooqi A, Holliday EB, Allen PK, Wei X, Cox JD, Komaki R. Prophylactic cranial irradiation after definitive chemoradiotherapy for limited-stage small cell lung cancer: Do all patients benefit?. Radiother Oncol 122(2):307-312, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28073578.
- Farooqi A, Siddiqi A, Khan MK, Esiashvili N. Evaluation of radiation dose to cardiac and pulmonary tissue among patients with stage IV Wilms tumor and pulmonary metastases. Pediatr Blood Cancer 61(8):1394-7, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24585510.
- Farooqi A, Dagg RA, Choi LM, Shay JW, Reynolds CP, Lau LM. Alternative lengthening of telomeres in neuroblastoma cell lines is associated with a lack of MYCN genomic amplification and with p53 pathway aberrations. J Neurooncol 119(1):17-26, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24792489.
- Mitra D, Rao PK, Nagarajan P, Bishop AJ, Farooqi AS, Gershenwald JE, Wargo J, Keung EZ, Fisher SB, Amaria RN, Davies MA, Ross MI, Guadagnolo BA. Outcomes after sphincter-sparing local therapy for anorectal melanoma: 1989-2020. Pract Radiat Oncol. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35278716.
- Farooqi A, Ludmir EB, Mitchell KG, Antonoff MB, Tang C, Lee P, Chang J, Elamin Y, Gomez DR, Gandhi SJ. Increased biologically effective dose (BED) to the primary tumor is associated with improved survival in patients with oligometastatic NSCLC. Radiother Oncol 163:114-118. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34419505.
Abstracts
- Andrew J Bishop, J Zheng, A Subramaniam, Amol Jitendra Ghia, C Wang, S Patel, BA Guadagnolo, Devarati Mitra, Farooqi A, BYS Kim, N Guha-Thakurta, Jing Li, Vinod Ravi. High Terminal Hemorrhage Risk From Cardiac Angiosarcoma Brain Metastases Warrants Frequent Brain Imaging and Early Intervention. International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics 111(3):e314, 2021.
- Devarati Mitra, P Krishna Rao, P Nagarajan, Andrew J Bishop,Farooqi A, Jeffrey E Gershenwald, J Wargo, E Keung, S Fisher, M Davies, R Amaria, Merrick I Ross, BA Guadagnolo. 30-Year Experience Managing Anorectal Melanoma With Sphincter-Sparing Local Excision and Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy. International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics 111(3):e60, 2021.
- EP Damron, D Boyce-Fappiano, Farooqi A, Devarati Mitra, AP Conley, N Somaiah, D Araujo, John Andrew Livingston, R Ratan, Christina Lynn Roland, BA Guadagnolo, Andrew J Bishop. Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy for Unresectable or Metastatic Sarcoma Lesions Provides Durable Tumor Control and Effective Palliation. International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics 111(3):e476, 2021.
- Sharvari Dharmaiah, Vasudev Tadimeti, Prit Benny Malgulwar, Christian Alvarez, Farooqi A, Jason Huse. G-Quadruplex Stabilization Enhances Replication Stress and DNA Damage in ATRX-deficient High-Grade Glioma. Neuro-Oncology 23(Supplement_6):vi27-vi28, 2021.
- M Antonoff, H Feldman, K Mitchell, Farooqi A, E Ludmir, W Hofstetter, R Mehran, R Rajaram, D Rice, B Sepesi, S Swisher, A Vaporciyan, G Walsh, S Gandhi, D Gomez. Surgical Complexity of Pulmonary Resections Performed for Oligometastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Journal of Thoracic Oncology 16(10):S885-S886, 2021.
- Farooqi A, Mitchell K, Ludmir EB, Boyce-Fappiano D, Vaporciyan A, Swisher S, Zhang J, Le X, Antonoff M, Gomez D. EGFR Mutations Predict Superior Survival of NSCLC Patients with Oligometastatic Disease Treated with Local Consolidative Therapy. Journal of Thoracic Oncology 16(3):S198, 2021.
- Boyce-Fappiano D, Guadagnolo BA, Ratan R, Wang WL, Wagner MJ, Patel S, Livingston JA, Lin P, Diao K, Mitra D, Farooqi A, Lazar A, Roland CL, Bishop AJ. Rethinking the Soft Tissue Sarcoma Paradigm for the Local Management of Extraskeletal Ewing Sarcoma. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 108(3):e4-e5, 2020.
- Dharmaiah S, Farooqi A Alvarez C, Sharin V, Irvin D, Huse J. G-Quadruplex Stabilization Targets ATRX Deficient High-Grade Glioma Via Induction of P53-Independent Apoptosis. Neuro-Oncology 22(2):ii19, 2020.
- Irvin D, Roberts H, Sharin V, Farooqi A, Dharmaiah S, Alvarez C, Huse J, CSIG-09. ATRX Deficiency in Glioma Impacts Transcriptional Profiles and the Immune Microenvironment In Vivo. Neuro-Oncology 22(2):ii29, 2020.
- Soliman M, Wang Y, Farooqi A, Bishop AJ, Yeboa DN, McGovern SL, McAleer MF, Briere TM, Campbell M, Tu S, Ferguson S, Rao G, Nieto Y, Li J. Primary Management of Non-Seminomatous Germ Cell Brain Metastases with Stereotactic Radiosurgery: A Case Series. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 108(3S):e684, 2020.
- Farooqi A, Dharmiah S, Alvarez C, et al.. ATRX Mutant Glioblastoma Stem Cell (GSC) Lines with the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres Phenotype Display Sensitivity to G-Quadruplex Stabilization. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 105(1):98, 2019.
- Soliman M, Wang Y, Farooqi A, et al.. Stereotactic Radiosurgery as Primary Management of Intracranial Germ Cell Metastases. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 105(1):E90-E91, 2019.
- Ludmir EB, Farooqi A, Mitchell KG, Antonoff M, Gomez DR.. Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio is an Independent Prognostic Indicator for Overall Survival among Patients with Oligometastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 105(1):E517, 2019.
- Farooqi A, Ludmir EB., Mitchell KG., Antonoff M., Gomez DR., Gandhi S. Increased Biologically Effective Dose (BED) To The Primary Tumor Improves Survival in Patients with Oligometastatic NSCLC: A Retrospective Dose Response Analysis. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 104(5):1192-1193, 2019.
- Mitchell K, Farooqi A, Ludmir EB, Corsini EM, Vaporciyan A, Swisher SG, Heymach J, Zhang J, Gomez DR, Antonoff M. Improved Overall Survival with Local Consolidative Therapy in Oligometastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Results from a Cohort of 194 patients with Synchronous Disease. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 104(1):229, 2019.
- Farooqi A, Yang J, Sharin V, Huse JT, Sulman EP. Identification of patient-derived glioblastoma stem cell (GSC) lines with the alternative lengthening of telomeres phenotype. Neuro-Oncology 20:244, 2018.
- Moreno A, Choi S, Colbert L, Farooqi A, Umberson K, Korah B, Herman J. Standardizing and optimizing institutional-level documentation in the electronic medical record era. J Clin Oncol 36:155, 2018.
- Farooqi A, Blanchard P, Bruno T, Kudchadker R, Tang C, Wang J, Venkatesan A, Bathala T, Ma J, Frank SJ. Early Quality of Life Outcomes and Patient Satisfaction Metrics for MRI-Assisted Prostate Brachytherapy Patients. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 99(2):E230, 2017.
- Farooqi A, Narang S, Li J, Bishop A, McAleer M, Tatsui C, Rhines L, Amini B, Ghia AJ. Early Outcomes of a Novel Hypofractionated Dose Escalated Spine Simultaneous Integrated Boost Technique for Treatment of Metastatic Lesions Not Amenable to Spine Stereotactic Radiosurgery. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 99(2):E72, 2017.
- Farooqi A, Blanchard P, Bruno T, Kudchadker R, Wang J, Venkatesan A, Bathala T, Ma J, Frank SJ. Early Quality of Life Outcomes for MRI-Assisted Prostate Brachytherapy Patients. Brachytherapy 16(3):S108, 2017.
- Komaki R, Wei X, Allen P, Holliday EB, Farooqi A, Lin SH, Balter P, Mohan R, Liao Z, Cox JD. Factors Associated With Severe Pneumonitis for Limited Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 93(3):E436-E437, 2015.
- Farooqi A, Holliday EB, Allen PK, Wei X, Komaki R. Factors influencing brain recurrence and survival among patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer after complete response to treatment. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 93(3):S161, 2015.
- Komaki RU, Wei X, Allen PK, Holliday EB, Farooqi A, Lin SH, Welsh JW, Cox JD. Does Prophylactic Cranial Irradiation Improve Overall Survival of Elderly Patients with Limited-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer?. J Thorac Oncol 10(9):S627-S627, 2015.
- Nanda R, Farooqi A, Khan MK, Esiashvili N. Cardiopulmonary Outcomes for Concurrent Versus Sequential Lung and Abdominal Irradiation in Stage IV Wilms Tumor. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 90(1):S728, 2014.
- Farooqi A, Hindle A, Koneru B, Shay J, Reynolds CP. Increased DNA Repair Capacities and p53/MDM2 Pathway Aberrations Hallmark Neuroblastoma Cell Lines with the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) Phenotype. Cancer Research 73(8):580, 2013.
- Woodburn T, Hall H, White K, Calderon R, Blaydes R, Farooqi A, Hogarty M, Mosse Y, Maris J, Erdreich-Epstein A, Miller B, Reynolds CP. Establishing validated pediatric cancer cell lines and direct xenografts from post-mortem samples. Cancer Research 73(8):2786, 2013.
Book Chapters
- Grossberg A, Farooqi A, Taniguchi C. Radiation Biology. In: Pocket Radiation Oncology. 1st. Wolters Kluwer: Philadelphia, 2019.
- Farooqi A, Yeboa D., Sulman EP. Low-Grade Gliomas. In: Pocket Radiation Oncology. 1st. Wolters Kluwer, 2019.
- Farooqi A, Yeboa D., Sulman EP. High-Grade Gliomas. In: Pocket Radiation Oncology. 1st. Wolters Kluwer: Philadelphia, 2019.
- Farooqi A, Ludmir EB., Paulino A. Neuroblastoma. In: Pocket Radiation Oncology. 1st. Wolters Kluwer: Philadelphia, 2019.
- Farooqi A, Tang C, Das P. Colorectal Cancer. In: Pocket Radiation Oncology. 1st. Wolters Kluwer, 2019.
Books (edited and written)
- Tang C, Farooqi A. Pocket Radiation Oncology. 1st Edition. Wolters Kluwer, 2019.
Grant & Contract Support
| Title: | Targeting the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres Phenotype in Glioblastoma to Enhance Cellular Response to Radiotherapy |
| Funding Source: | Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |