Alisha H. Bent, M.D.
Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Gastrointestinal (GI) Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2016 | Meharry Medical College - School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, US, Doctor of Medicine |
| 2012 | University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, US, Food Science and Nutrition-Pre-Med, Bachelor of Science |
Postgraduate Training
| 2019-2022 | Clinical Fellowship, Hematology/Oncology Fellow, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas |
| 2016-2019 | Clinical Residency, Internal Medicine Resident, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas |
Licenses & Certifications
| 2022 | American Board of Medical Oncology |
| 2019 | DEA Controlled Substance Registration Certificate |
| 2019 | American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) |
Experience & Service
Other Professional Positions
Chair, Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Wellness Committee, Houston, TX, 2021 - 2022
Chief Fellow, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2021 - 2022
Honors & Awards
| 2024 - Present | Top 1% Provider |
| 2024 - Present | Robert A. Winn Career Development Award, Robert A. Winn |
| 2021 | Holmes-Abrams Fellowship Award, Colorectal Cancer Research |
| 2021 | Q&A Panelist, MD Anderson Cancer Center Grand Rounds |
| 2021 - 2022 | Chief Fellow, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2014 | Competitive Academic Scholarship, United Food and Commercial Workers Scholarship |
| 2013 - 2016 | Dean's List, Meharry Medical College |
| 2013 | Competitive Academic Scholarship, George C. and Sarah Hale Scholarship |
| 2010 - 2012 | Dean's List, University of Florida |
| 2008 - 2012 | Presidential Scholar, University of Florida |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
National Presentations
- 2022. HER3 expression in metastatic colorectal cancer: Defining the clinicomolecular profile of an emerging target. Poster. 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, US.
- 2014. Identification of Novel Genes in the Aurora Kinase A Pathways in Esophageal Adenocarcinomas. 58th Annual Student Research Day. Nashville, Tennessee, US.
Grant & Contract Support
| Date: | 2024 - 2026 |
| Title: | Robert A. Winn Career Development Award |
| Funding Source: | Robert A. Winn |
| Role: | PI |
| Date: | 2023 - 2030 |
| Title: | Phase 2, Randomized, Open-label Study of Onvansertib in Combination with FOLFIRI and Bevacizumab Versus FOLFIRI and Bevacizumab for Second Line Treatment of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer in Patients with a KRAS or NRAS Mutation |
| Funding Source: | Cardiff Oncology |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | 2023-0042 |
| Date: | 2021 - 2024 |
| Title: | DAILY: Vitamin D, Aspirin, ExercIse, Low Saturated Fat Foods StudY in Colorectal Cancer Patients with Minimal Residual Disease |
| Funding Source: | UT Md Anderson Cancer Center |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | 2021-0320 | PID12923 |
| Date: | 2021 - 2022 |
| Title: | Targeting HER3 Expression in Colorectal Cancer |
| Funding Source: | CONQUER CANCER FOUNDATION |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | FP12027 |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Yousef, M, Yousef, A, Chowdhury, S, Fanaeian, M, Knafl, M, Peterson, J, Zeineddine, MA, Alfaro, KD, Zeineddine, F, Goldstein, D, Hornstein, N, Dasari, NV, Huey, RW, Johnson, B, Serpas Higbie, V, Bent, AH, Kee, BK, Lee, MS, Morelli, MP, Morris, VK, Halperin, DM, Overman, MJ, Parseghian, C, Vilar Sanchez, E, Wolff, RA, Raghav, KS, White, MG, Uppal, A, Sun, R, Wang, W, Kopetz, S, Willis, JA, Shen, JY. Molecular, Socioeconomic, and Clinical Factors Affecting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Survival. JAMA Oncol 10(11):1519-1529, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39264607.
- Morris VK, Xiao W, Lin K, Wong CW, Wotman MT, Holliday EB, Huey RW, Noticewala SS, Ludmir EB, Bent AH, Ludford K, Messick C, Koay EJ, Smith G, Konishi T, Bednarski B, Chang GJ, Koong AC, You Y, Das P, Gillison ML. Time Dependency for Human Papillomavirus Circulating Tumor DNA Detection after Chemoradiation as a Prognostic Biomarker for Localized Anal Cancer. Clin Cancer Res 31(12):2399-2405, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39873618.
- Dansby J, More A, Zeineddine M, Yousef A, Bent A, Dayyani F, Wolff R, Overman M, Shen JP. Taxane-Based Chemotherapy Is Effective in Metastatic Appendiceal Adenocarcinoma. Oncologist 28(12):e1303-e1305, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37738316.
- Simmons K, Thomas JV, Ludford K, Willis JA, Higbie VS, Raghav KPS, Johnson B, Dasari A, Kee BK, Parseghian CM, Lee MS, Le PH, Morelli MP, Shen JP, Bent A, Vilar E, Wolff RA, Kopetz S, Overman MJ, Morris VK. Sustained Disease Control in Immune Checkpoint Blockade Responders with Microsatellite Instability-high Colorectal Cancer after Treatment Termination. Cancer Res Commun 3(12):2510-2517, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 38085001.
- Bent A, Raghavan S, Dasari A, Kopetz S. The Future of ctDNA-Defined Minimal Residual Disease: Personalizing Adjuvant Therapy in Colorectal Cancer. Clin Colorectal Cancer 21(2):89-95, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35450837.
- Bowman IA, Bent A, Le T, Christie A, Wardak Z, Arriaga Y, Courtney K, Hammers H, Barnett S, Mickey B, Patel T, Whitworth T, Stojadinovic S, Hannan R, Nedzi L, Timmerman R, Brugarolas J. Improved Survival Outcomes for Kidney Cancer Patients With Brain Metastases. Clin Genitourin Cancer 17(2):e263-e272, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30538068.
- Buran TJ, Sandhu AK, Azeredo AM, Bent AH, Williamson JG, Gu L. Effects of exogenous abscisic acid on fruit quality, antioxidant capacities, and phytochemical contents of southern high bush blueberries. Food Chem 132(3):1375-1381, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 29243625.
Other Articles
- Kopetz, S, Bent, AH Going with the Flow: The Promise of Plasma-Only Circulating Tumor DNA Assays. Clin Cancer Res 27(20), 2021. PMID: 34389607.
Abstracts
- Allam J, Estrella J, Higbie V, Le P, Bent AH, Kotlov N, Baranov O, Tongsai F, Paradiso F, Samarina N, Galanicheva N, Hensley M, Fowler NH, Willett A, Nguyen V, Matamoros A, Lano EA, Singh Raghav KP, Huey RW. Uncovering the tumor microenvironment (TME): Exploring survival and immunotherapy (IO) response in cancer of unknown primary (CUP). J Clin Oncol 43(16), 2025. e-Pub 2025.
- Pan K, Baig Y, Willis J, Dasari A, Bent AH, Higbie V, Huey RW, Kee BK, Lee MS, Parseghian C, Morelli MP, YC Shen JP, Kopetz S, Van K Morris II. Phase I/II trial of encorafenib, cetuximab, and nivolumab in microsatellite stable BRAFV600E metastatic colorectal cancer following progression on prior BRAF+EGFR targeted therapies. J Clin Oncol 43(4), 2025. e-Pub 2025.
- Huey RW, Singh Raghav KP, Estrella J, Higbie V, Le P, Bent AH, Matamoros A, Lano EA, Willett A, Nguyen V, Escano M, Wilson KF, Lin HY. Phase II trial of sintilimab in cancer of unknown primary. J Clin Oncol 43(4), 2025. e-Pub 2025.
- Wainberg ZA, Bent AH, Moreno V, Pedregal M, Mehta R, Chen EX, Patino JL, Moy RH, Madajewski B, Petrone A, Adesara-Patel P, Liu Y, Sun X, Aguado-Fraile E, Basciano PA, Sethuraman S, Hawkey N, Fontana E. 504MO Phase I study of the PKMYT1 inhibitor lunresertib (lunre) in combination with FOLFIRI in advanced gastrointestinal (GI) cancers (MINOTAUR study) 35(1):S201, 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Pellatt AJ, Maddalena G, Bent AH, Parseghian CM, Huey RW, Singh Raghav KP, Van K Morris II, Overman MJ, Morelli MP, Willis J, Le P, YC Shen JP, Alfaro K, Aziz K, Kell RJ, Sun R, Kopetz S, Dasari A. A phase II trial of TAS-102 in patients with colorectal cancer with ctDNA-defined minimal residual disease post-adjuvant therapy compared to synthetic control cohort: Results from the MD Anderson INTERCEPT program. J Clin Oncol 42(16), 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Van K Morris II, Xiao W, Holliday EB, Lin K, Huey RW, Noticewala SS, Ludmir EB, Bent AH, Higbie V, Koay EJ, Koong AC, Das P, Gillison ML. Time dependency for HPV ctDNA detection as a prognostic biomarker for anal cancer. J Clin Oncol 42(16), 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Higbie V, Shah P, Bent AH, Dasari A, Huey RW, Johnson B, Kee BK, Kopetz S, Lee MS, Ludford K, Morelli MP, Morris VK, Parseghian CM, Singh Raghav KP, YC Shen JP, Willis J, Wolff RA, Overman MJ. Natural history and patterns of progression for dMMR/MSI-H colorectal cancer treated with immune checkpoint blockade: A single center retrospective analysis. J Clin Oncol 42(3), 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Pellatt AJ, Maddalena G, Eluri M, Parseghian CM, Aziz K, Alfaro K, Kell RJ, Bent AH, Huey RW, Uppal A, Konishi T, Overman MJ, Morelli MP, Willis J, YC Shen JP, Singh Raghav KP, Newhook TE, Morris VK, Dasari A, Kopetz S. Redefining the prognostic significance of RAS and BRAF V600E mutations on disease free survival in patients with colorectal cancer in the era of ct-DNA defined minimal residual disease: Results from the MD Anderson INTERCEPT Program. J Clin Oncol 42(3), 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Maddalena G, Pellatt AJ, Eluri M, Parseghian CM, Aziz K, Alfaro K, Kell RJ, Bent AH, Huey RW, Uppal A, Konishi T, Overman MJ, Morelli MP, Willis J, YC Shen JP, Singh Raghav KP, Newhook TE, Morris VK, Dasari A, Kopetz S. INTERCEPT Program of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) testing for minimal residual disease (MRD) in colorectal cancer (CRC): Results from a prospective clinical cohort. J Clin Oncol 42(3), 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Dasari A, Bent A, Alfaro-Munoz K, Huey R, Johnson B, Lee M, Morelli MP, Morris V, Overman M, Parseghian C, Raghav K, Shen J, Willis J, Newhook T, Uppal A, You Y, Konishi T, Chang G, Kopetz S, Wolff R. Association of positive ctDNA-based minimal residual disease assays during surveillance and undiagnosed concomitant radiographic recurrences in colorectal cancer (CRC): Results from the MD Anderson INTERCEPT program. J Clin Oncol 41(16), 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- Bent AH, Maru DM, Vauthey J, Dasari A, Johnson B, Kee BK, Parseghian CM, Menter D, Overman MJ, Morris VK, Fan P, Koyama K, Maeda N, Kopetz S, Singh Raghav KP. HER3 expression in metastatic colorectal cancer: Defining the clinicomolecular profile of an emerging target. J Clin Oncol 40(16), 2022. e-Pub 2022.
Book Chapters
- Parseghian CM, Bent AH. Targeted Therapy with Anti-EGFR and Anti-VEGF Therapy and Beyond. In: Colorectal Liver Metastasis. Springer Nature, 293-299, 2022.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified July 16, 2025