Joseph A Ludwig, MD
Department of Sarcoma Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine
About Dr. Ludwig
Dr. Joseph Ludwig is a physician-scientist who specializes in the study and care of Ewing’s and other bone and soft-tissue sarcomas. He received his medical degree from the University of Iowa, completed residency and research fellowship at Mayo Clinic, and medical oncology fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. Ludwig has been a member of the MD Anderson faculty since 2006. His research program, which encompasses both basic and translational endpoints, seeks to understand how the tumor microenvironment regulates the spatial organization, phenotype, and differentiation state of cancer. Ludwig’s major focus is determine how these parameters impact the sensitivity of bone and soft-tissue sarcomas to targeted therapy in an effort to improve response rates in these patients.
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Associate Professor, Department of Sarcoma Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Adjunct Professor, Rice University, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 1998 | University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA, MD, Doctor of Medicine |
| 1994 | University of Iowa College of Business, Iowa City, IA, USA, BBA, Business Administration |
Postgraduate Training
| 2002-2006 | Clinical Research Fellowship, Medical Oncology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD |
| 2001-2002 | Research Fellowship, Molecular Therapeutics, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL |
| 1998-2001 | Clinical Residency, Internal Medicine, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL |
Board Certifications
| 2005 | American Board of Internal Medicine-Medical Oncology |
Experience & Service
Academic Appointments
Assistant Professor, Department of Sarcoma Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2006 - 2014
Honors & Awards
| 2005 | American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Young Investigator Award, American Society Clinical Oncology |
| 2005 | NIH Fellows Award in Research Excellence, National Institute of Health |
| 2001 | Mayo Graduate School of Medicine Resident Research Award, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine |
| 1995 | Medical Student Research Fellowship, University of Iowa College of Medicine |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Parkes A, Wang WL, Patel S, Leung CH, Lin H, Conley AP, Somaiah N, Araujo DM, Zarzour M, Livingston JA, Ludwig J, Roland CL, Ravi V, Benjamin RS, Ratan R. Outcomes of systemic therapy in metastatic phyllodes tumor of the breast. Breast Cancer Res Treat 186(3):871-882, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33575859.
- Tarek N, Said R, Andersen CR, Suki TS, Foglesong J, Herzog CE, Tannir NM, Patel S, Ratan R, Ludwig JA, Daw NC. Primary Ewing Sarcoma/Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor of the Kidney: The MD Anderson Cancer Center Experience. Cancers (Basel) 12(10), 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33050651.
- Amin HM, Morani AC, Daw NC, Lamhamedi-Cherradi SE, Subbiah V, Menegaz BA, Vishwamitra D, Eskandari G, George B, Benjamin RS, Patel S, Song J, Lazar AJ, Wang WL, Kurzrock R, Pappo A, Anderson PM, Schwartz GK, Araujo D, Cuglievan B, Ratan R, McCall D, Mohiuddin S, Livingston JA, Molina ER, Naing A, Ludwig JA. IGF-1R/mTOR Targeted Therapy for Ewing Sarcoma: A Meta-Analysis of Five IGF-1R-Related Trials Matched to Proteomic and Radiologic Predictive Biomarkers. Cancers (Basel) 12(7), 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32630797.
- Molina ER, Chim LK, Barrios S, Ludwig JA, Mikos AG. Modeling the Tumor Microenvironment and Pathogenic Signaling in Bone Sarcoma. Tissue Eng Part B Rev 26(3):249-271, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32057288.
- Parkes A, Urquiola E, Bhosale P, Lin H, Watson K, Wang WL, Feig B, Torres K, Roland CL, Conley AP, Zarzour M, Livingston JA, Ratan R, Ludwig J, Araujo DM, Ravi V, Benjamin RS, Patel S, Somaiah N. PET/CT Imaging as a Diagnostic Tool in Distinguishing Well-Differentiated versus Dedifferentiated Liposarcoma. Sarcoma 2020:8363986, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32565716.
- Molina ER, Chim LK, Salazar MC, Mehta SM, Menegaz BA, Lamhamedi-Cherradi SE, Satish T, Mohiuddin S, McCall D, Zaske AM, Cuglievan B, Lazar AJ, Scott DW, Grande-Allen JK, Ludwig JA, Mikos AG. Mechanically tunable coaxial electrospun models of YAP/TAZ mechanoresponse and IGF-1R activation in osteosarcoma. Acta Biomater 100:38-51, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31542501.
- Subbiah V, Anderson PM, Kairemo K, Hess K, Huh WW, Ravi V, Daw NC, Somaiah N, Ludwig JA, Benjamin RS, Chawla S, Hong DS, Meric-Bernstam F, Ravizzini G, Kleinerman E, Macapinlac H, Rohren E. Alpha particle Radium 223 dichloride in high-risk osteosarcoma: a phase I dose escalation trial. Clin Cancer Res 25(13):3802-3810, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30733229.
- Puerto-Camacho P, Amaral AT, Lamhamedi-Cherradi SE, Menegaz BA, Castillo-Ecija H, Ordóñez JL, Domínguez S, Jordan-Perez C, Diaz-Martin J, Romero-Pérez L, Lopez-Alvarez M, Civantos-Jubera G, Robles-Frías MJ, Biscuola M, Ferrer C, Mora J, Cuglievan B, Schadler K, Seifert O, Kontermann R, Pfizenmaier K, Simón L, Fabre M, Carcaboso ÁM, Ludwig JA, de Álava E. Preclinical Efficacy of Endoglin-Targeting Antibody-Drug Conjugates for the Treatment of Ewing Sarcoma. Clin Cancer Res 25(7):2228-2240, 2019. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30420447.
- Subbiah V, Lamhamedi-Cherradi SE, Cuglievan B, Menegaz BA, Camacho P, Huh W, Ramamoorthy V, Anderson PM, Pollock RE, Lev DC, Qiao W, McAleer MF, Benjamin RS, Patel S, Herzog CE, Daw NC, Feig BW, Lazar AJ, Hayes-Jordan A, Ludwig JA. Multimodality Treatment of Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor: Chemotherapy and Complete Cytoreductive Surgery Improve Patient Survival. Clin Cancer Res 24(19):4865-4873, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29871905.
- Ludwig JA. Efficacy of ONC201 in orthotopic desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) models. Neoplasia 20(5):524-532, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29626752.
- Hayes-Jordan AA, Ma X, Menegaz BA, Lamhamedi-Cherradi SE, Kingsley CV, Benson JA, Camacho PE, Ludwig JA, Lockworth CR, Garcia GE, Craig SL. Efficacy of ONC201 in Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor. Neoplasia 20(5):524-532, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29626752.
- Hayes-Jordan AA, Coakley BA, Green HL, Xiao L, Fournier KF, Herzog CE, Ludwig JA, McAleer MF, Anderson PM, Huh WW. Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor Treated with Cytoreductive Surgery and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy: Results of a Phase 2 Trial. Ann Surg Oncol 25(4):872-877, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29383611.
- Menegaz BA, Cuglievan B, Benson J, Camacho P, Lamhamedi-Cherradi SE, Leung CH, Warneke CL, Huh W, Subbiah V, Benjamin RS, Patel S, Daw N, Hayes-Jordan A, Ludwig JA. Clinical Activity of Pazopanib in Patients with Advanced Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor. Oncologist 23(3):360-366, 2018. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29212731.
- Ludwig JA. Vincristine, Ifosfamide, and Doxorubicin (VID) for Initial Treatment of Ewing Sarcoma in Adults. Oncologist 22(10):1271-1277, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28710342.
- Wagner MJ, Gopalakrishnan V, Ravi V, Livingston JA, Conley AP, Araujo D, Somaiah N, Zarzour MA, Ratan R, Wang WL, Patel SR, Lazar A, Ludwig JA, Benjamin RS. Vincristine, Ifosfamide, and Doxorubicin for Initial Treatment of Ewing Sarcoma in Adults. Oncologist 22(10):1271-1277, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28710342.
- Subbiah V, Meyer C, Zinner R, Meric-Bernstam F, Zahurak ML, O'Connor A, Roszik J, Shaw K, Ludwig JA, Kurzrock R, Azad NA. Phase Ib/II study of safety & efficacy of combination therapy with multikinase VEGF inhibitor Pazopanib and MEK inhibitor Trametinib in advanced soft tissue sarcoma. Clin Cancer Res 23(CCR-17-0272):4027-4034, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28377484.
- Santoro M, Menegaz BA, Lamhamedi-Cherradi SE, Molina ER, Wu D, Priebe W, Ludwig JA, Mikos AG. Modeling Stroma-Induced Drug Resistance in a Tissue-Engineered Tumor Model Of Ewing Sarcoma. Tissue Eng Part A 23(1-2):80-89, 2017. PMID: 27923328.
- JA Ludwig. Phase Ib/II study of the safety and efficacy of combination therapy with multikinase vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor Pazopanib and MEK inhibitor Trametinib in advanced soft tissue sarcoma, 2017.
- Higham CS, Steinberg SM, Dombi E, Perry A, Helman LJ, Schuetze SM, Ludwig JA, Staddon A, Milhem MM, Rushing D, Jones RL, Livingston M, Goldman S, Moertel C, Wagner L, Janhofer D, Annunziata CM, Reinke D, Long L, Viskochil D, Baker L, Widemann BC. SARC006: Phase II Trial of Chemotherapy in Sporadic and Neurofibromatosis Type 1 Associated Chemotherapy-Naive Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors. Sarcoma 2017:8685638, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29138631.
- Wang Z, Shi N, Naing A, Janku F, Subbiah V, Araujo DM, Patel SR, Ludwig JA, Ramondetta LM, Levenback CF, Ramirez PT, Piha-Paul SA, Hong D, Karp DD, Tsimberidou AM, Meric-Bernstam F, Fu S. Survival of patients with metastatic leiomyosarcoma: the MD Anderson Clinical Center for targeted therapy experience. Cancer Med 5(12):3437-3444, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27882721.
- Joseph Ludwig. Evaluation of Novel Targeted Therapies in Aggressive Biology Sarcoma Patients after progression from US FDA approved Therapies, 2016.
- Joseph Ludwig, MD. Evaluation of Novel Targeted Therapies in Aggressive Biology Sarcoma Patients after progression from US FDA approved Therapies, 2016.
- Ludwig JA. Insulin-Like Growth FactorReceptor 1 (IGF-1R) and Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin (mTOR) Blockades: An Intersection of Synergistic Pathways in Ewing’s Sarcoma. Journal of National Cancer Institute 108(12), 2016. PMID: 27576731.
- Lamhamedi-Cherradi SE, Menegaz BA, Ramamoorthy V, Vishwamitra D, Wang Y, Maywald RL, Buford AS, Fokt I, Skora S, Wang J, Naing A, Lazar AJ, Rohren EM, Daw NC, Subbiah V, Benjamin RS, Ratan R, Priebe W, Mikos AG, Amin HM, Ludwig JA. IGF-1R and mTOR Blockade: Novel Resistance Mechanisms and Synergistic Drug Combinations for Ewing Sarcoma. J Natl Cancer Inst 108(12), 2016. PMID: 27576731.
- Kovar H, Amatruda J, Brunet E, Burdach S, Cidre-Aranaz F, de Alava E, Dirksen U, van der Ent W, Grohar P, Grünewald TG, Helman L, Houghton P, Iljin K, Korsching E, Ladanyi M, Lawlor E, Lessnick S, Ludwig J, Meltzer P, Metzler M, Mora J, Moriggl R, Nakamura T, Papamarkou T, Radic Sarikas B, Rédini F, Richter GH, Rossig C, Schadler K, Schäfer BW, Scotlandi K, Sheffield NC, Shelat A, Snaar-Jagalska E, Sorensen P, Stegmaier K, Stewart E, Sweet-Cordero A, Szuhai K, Tirado OM, Tirode F, Toretsky J, Tsafou K, Üren A, Zinovyev A, Delattre O. The second European interdisciplinary Ewing sarcoma research summit--A joint effort to deconstructing the multiple layers of a complex disease. Oncotarget 7(8):8613-24, 2016. PMID: 26802024.
- Ludwig, J. Flow Perfusion Effects on Three-Dimensional Culture and Drug Sensitivity of Ewring Sarcoma. PNAS 112(33), 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26240353.
- Ludwig, J. An Oral Formulation of YK-4-279: Preclinical Efficacy and Acquired Resistance Patterns in Ewing’s Sarcoma. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 10, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25964201.
- Lamhamedi-Cherradi SE, Santoro M, Ramammoorthy V, Menegaz BA, Bartholomeusz G, Iles LR, Amin HM, Livingston JA, Mikos AG, Ludwig JA. 3D tissue-engineered model of Ewing's sarcoma. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 79-80C:155-171, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25109853.
- Satelli A, Mitra A, Cutrera JJ, Devarie M, Xia X, Ingram DR, Dibra D, Somaiah N, Torres KE, Ravi V, Ludwig JA, Kleinerman ES, Li S. Universal Marker and Detection Tool for Human Sarcoma Circulating Tumor Cells. Cancer Res 74(6):1645-50, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24448245.
- Hayes-Jordan A, Green HL, Lin H, Owusu-Agyemang P, Fitzgerald N, Arunkumar R, Mejia R, Okhuysen-Cawley R, Mauricio R, Fournier K, Ludwig J, Anderson P. Complete Cytoreduction and HIPEC Improves Survival in Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor. Ann Surg Oncol 21(1):220-4, 2014. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 24046124.
- Jiang Y, Subbiah V, Janku F, Ludwig JA, Naing A, Benjamin RS, Brown RE, Anderson P, Kurzrock R. Novel secondary somatic mutations in Ewing's sarcoma and desmoplastic small round cell tumors. PLoS One 9(8):e93676, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25119929.
- Schwartz GK, Tap WD, Qin LX, Livingston MB, Undevia SD, Chmielowski B, Agulnik M, Schuetze SM, Reed DR, Okuno SH, Ludwig JA, Keedy V, Rietschel P, Kraft AS, Adkins D, Van Tine BA, Brockstein B, Yim V, Bitas C, Abdullah A, Antonescu CR, Condy M, Dickson MA, Vasudeva SD, Ho AL, Doyle LA, Chen HX, Maki RG. Cixutumumab and temsirolimus for patients with bone and soft-tissue sarcoma: a multicentre, open-label, phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol 14(4):371-82, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23477833.
- Fong EL, Lamhamedi-Cherradi SE, Burdett E, Ramamoorthy V, Lazar AJ, Kasper FK, Farach-Carson MC, Vishwamitra D, Demicco EG, Menegaz BA, Amin HM, Mikos AG, Ludwig JA. Modeling Ewing sarcoma tumors in vitro with 3D scaffolds. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110(16):6500-5, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23576741.
- Joseph Ludwig. Proteomic and Radiographic Biomarkers of Response to IGF-1R Antibodies in Ewing sarcoma.
- Joseph Ludwig. Improved survival in DSRCT – A Retrospective review of the MDACC Experience.
- Livingston JA, Hess KR, Naing A, Hong DS, Patel S, Benjamin RS, Ludwig JA, Conley A, Herzog CE, Anderson P, Meric-Bernstam F, Kurzrock R, Subbiah V. Validation of prognostic scoring and assessment of clinical benefit for patients with bone sarcomas enrolled in phase I clinical trials. Oncotarget. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27486883.
- Pan HY, Morani A, Wang WL, Hess KR, Paulino AC, Ludwig JA, Lin PP, Daw NC, Mahajan A. Prognostic Factors and Patterns of Relapse in Ewing Sarcoma Patients Treated With Chemotherapy and R0 Resection. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25772182.
- Jiang Y, Ludwig J, Janku F. Targeted therapies for advanced Ewing sarcoma family of tumors. Cancer Treat Rev. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25869102.
- Lamhamedi-Cherradi SE, Mohiuddin S, Mishra DK, Krishnan S, Velasco AR, Vetter AM, Pence K, McCall D, Truong DD, Cuglievan B, Menegaz BA, Utama B, Daw NC, Molina ER, Zielinski RJ, Livingston JA, Gorlick R, Mikos AG, Kim MP, Ludwig JA. Transcriptional activators YAP/TAZ and AXL orchestrate dedifferentiation, cell fate, and metastasis in human osteosarcoma. Cancer Gene Ther. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33408328.
Other Articles
- J Ludwig Vincristine, Ifosfamide, and Doxorubicin (Vid) for Initial Treatment of Ewing Sarcoma in Adults, 2017.
- Joseph Ludwig The Efficacy of Pazopanib in DSRCT. Clinical Cancer Research (In submission).
Book Chapters
- Ludwig, JA. Ewing's Sarcoma Family of Tumors. In: Bone Cancer: Progression & Therapeutic Approaches, 2nd Edition. Academic Press: San Diego, CA, 2015.
- Ludwig, JA. Ewing's Sarcoma Family of Tumors. In: Bone Cancer. In: Progression & Therapeutic Approaches. 3rd. Academic Press: San Diego, 2015.
- Ludwig JA, Burdett E. Mikos A. Tumor Engineering: Applications for Cancer Biology and Drug Development. In: Bioengineering. Taylor & Francis Group: Boca Raton, FL, 2013.