Rama Soundararajan, PhD
Department of Translational Molecular Pathology, Division of Pathology-Lab Medicine Div
About Dr. Rama Soundararajan
Dr. Rama Soundararajan is an award-winning scientist and educator with 25+ years of biomedical research experience in academic and health-care industries. She is a Professor at the Department of Translational Molecular Pathology, Director of Educational Initiatives & Training, and Faculty Liaison to the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and Development at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is also member of the International Association of Medical Science Educators, and the American Association for Cancer Education.
Dr. Soundararajan has >20 years of experience in scientific leadership and management of research enterprises in various capacities. Her research expertise includes signal transduction, endocrine- and metabolic disorders, ion transport regulation, sodium- and glucose homeostasis, cancer stem-cells, tumor metastasis, cellular signaling specificity and cancer drug development. She has a strong publication record in high-impact peer-reviewed journals (150+ publications, abstracts, and presentations combined). She is the recipient of several national/international awards for outstanding scientific-research. Her current research interests are focused on understanding the fundamental biology that drives aggressive stem cell-enriched prostate cancers, and developing combination therapies to combat tumor progression.
As Director and Co-Founder of an advanced scientific training program for undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in translational medicine at MD Anderson [Interdisciplinary Translational Educational Research Training, ITERT program, founded in 2013], she has created and taught several STEM professional skills and career-development courses for learners in all career stages ranging from high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows to early career faculty and research staff. In her current roles at MD Anderson, she is responsible for providing strategic educational leadership which includes a vision for the scope, direction, objectives and processes for trainee career development in biomedical sciences. She is the recipient of several prestigious awards for her contribution to excellence in education, training and mentorship at the undergraduate-, graduate- and post-graduate level, including the President’s Faculty Excellence Award for Education and Mentorship Advancement, & the DPLM Faculty Excellence Award for Education at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Dr. Soundararajan completed her PhD from the Indian Institute of Science, and an Executive Leadership Certificate from Cornell University. She is also a CIMER-certified mentorship training facilitator.
Present Title & Affiliation
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Professor, Department of GSBS Dean’s Office, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center/University of Texas Health Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS), Houston, Texas
Professor, Department of Translational Molecular Pathology (TMP), Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (DPLM), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Castaneda, M, Den Hollander, P, Werden, SJ, Ramirez-Peña, E, Vasaikar, S, Kuburich, NA, Gould, C, Soundararajan, R, Mani, S. β-Catenin Drives the FOXC2-Mediated Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition and Acquisition of Stem Cell Properties. Cancers 17(7), 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40227590.
- Viscuse, PV, Slack Tidwell, RS, Zhang, M, Rohra, P, Zhu, K, San Lucas, FA, Konnick, E, Pilie, PG, Siddiqui, BA, Logothetis, CJ, Corn, P, Subudhi, SK, Pritchard, CC, Soundararajan, R, Aparicio, A. Evaluation of the Aggressive-Variant Prostate Cancer Molecular Signature in Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) Environments. Cancers 15(24), 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 38136389.
- Soundararajan, R, Viscuse, PV, Pilie, PG, Liu, J, Logotheti, S, Laberiano Fernandez, C, Lorenzini, D, Hoang, A, Lu, W, Solis Soto, LM, Wistuba, II, Xu, M, Song, X, Shepherd, P, Navone, NM, Tidwell, R, Lozano, G, Logothetis, CJ, Zhang, J, Long, JP, Estecio, MR, Tzelepi, V, Aparicio, A. Genotype-to-Phenotype Associations in the Aggressive Variant Prostate Cancer Molecular Profile (AVPC-m) Components. Cancers 14(13):3233, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35805010.
- Balcik-Ercin, P, Cayrefourcq, L, Soundararajan, R, Mani, S, Alix-Panabières, C. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal plasticity in circulating tumor cell lines sequentially derived from a patient with colorectal cancer. Cancers 13(21):5408, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34771571.
- Ramirez-Peña, E, Arnold, JM, Shivakumar, V, Joseph, R, Vijay, GV, Den Hollander, P, Bhangre, NA, Allegakoen, P, Prasad, R, Conley, Z, Matés, JM, Márquez, J, Chang, JT, Vasaikar, S, Soundararajan, R, Sreekumar, A, Mani, S. The epithelial to mesenchymal transition promotes glutamine independence by suppressing GLS2 expression. Cancers 11(10):1610, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31652551.
Review Articles
- Logotheti, S, Papadaki, E, Zolota, V, Logothetis, CJ, Vrahatis, AG, Soundararajan, R, Tzelepi, V. Lineage Plasticity and Stemness Phenotypes in Prostate Cancer. Cancers 15(17), 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37686633.
- Soundararajan, R, Fradette, JJ, Konen, JM, Moulder, S, Zhang, X, Gibbons, DL, Varadarajan, N, Wistuba, II, Tripathy, D, Bernatchez, C, Byers, LA, Chang, JT, Contreras, A, Lim, B, Parra Cuentas, ER, Roarty, EB, Wang, J, Yang, F, Barton, M, Rosen, JM, Mani, S. Targeting the interplay between epithelial-to-mesenchymal-transition and the immune system for effective immunotherapy. Cancers 11(5):714, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31137625.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified August 18, 2025