Rohit Venkatesan, MD
Department of General Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine
About Rohit Venkatesan
Dr. Venkatesan was raised in Northwest Ohio and then North Texas. He attended Undergrad at the University of Texas at Austin before returning to the midwest for medical school at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Following medical school Dr. Venkatesan completed his internal medicine residency and medical oncology fellowship at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston where he was also the chief fellow in medical oncology during 2017-2018 before joining as a faculty member in 2018. He is interested in hematologic malignancies as well as lung, breast and GI cancers.
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Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Associate Professor, General Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Associate Professor (Joint Appointment), Gastrointestinal (GI) Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Fellowship Program Director, General Oncology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Associate Professor, Gastrointestinal (GI) Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Associate Professor, General Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2013 | Wayne State University of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, US, MD |
| 2008 | University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, US, BA in Biology |
| 2008 | University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, US, BA in Philosophy |
Postgraduate Training
| 2017-2018 | Chief Fellow, Medical Oncology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas |
| 2016-2018 | Clinical Fellowship, Medical Oncology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas |
| 2013-2016 | Clinical Residency, Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas |
Licenses & Certifications
| 2024 | DEA |
| 2020 | Texas Medical Board |
| 2020 | ACLS |
| 2016 | ABIM |
Experience & Service
Faculty Academic Appointments
Assistant Professor, Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 2022 - 2024
Assistant Professor, General Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 2018 - 2024
Assistant Professor, General Oncology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, 2018 - 2018
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Fellowship Program Director, General Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 2023 - 2025
Associate Program Director Medical Oncology Fellowship, General Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 2019 - 2023
Chief Fellow, General Oncology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, 2016 - 2018
Extramural Institutional Committee Activities
Contributor, Beacon Protocol Build Team, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Honors & Awards
| 2022 | Top 10% National Patient Satisfaction Scores, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, League City, TX |
| 2022 | Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award, UTMB Division of Hematology/Oncology |
| 2020 | Texas Rising Star; 2020-2023 |
| 2020 | Super Doctors |
| 2019 | UTMB Faculty Teaching Award |
| 2018 | Fellow of the Year, UTMB |
| 2018 | Nomination for the Best Overall Fellow, UTMB |
| 2017 - 2018 | Chief Fellow Medical Oncology, UTMB |
| 2016 | Don Powell Award for Excellence, UTMB Department of Internal Medicine |
| 2015 | Resident of the Month, UTMB Department of Internal Medicine |
| 2015 | Thayer Award for Excellence, UTMB Graduate Medical Education |
| 2014 | Outstanding Clinic Intern of the Year, UTMB Department of Internal Medicine |
| 2013 - 2014 | Nomination for the Adams TDCJ Intern of the Year, UTMB Department of Internal Medicine |
| 2013 | Intern of the Month, UTMB, Department of Internal Medicine |
| 2013 | Outstanding Clinic Intern of the Year, UTMB Department of Internal Medicine |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
Local Presentations
- 2021. Chemotherapy Consent Implementation and Compliance in Cancer Patients. Galveston, TX, US.
- 2020. Clarifying the Intent of Cancer-directed Therapy and Improving Physician Communication. Galveston, Texas, US.
- 2015. Extra-gonadal Seminoma Presenting as a Large Intra-abdominal Mass. Galveston, TX, US.
- 2015. A Case of Hepatitis C, Cryoglubulinemia, and Marginal Zone Lymphoma, Which Came First?. UTMB Quality Improvement. Galveston, TX, US.
Formal Peers
- 2018. Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Clinical Care Review Sessions. Galveston, TX, US.
- 2018. Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Didactics. Galveston, Texas, US.
- 2018. Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Board Review Sessions. Galveston, Texas, US.
- 2018. Internal Medicine Residency Didactics. Galveston, TX, US.
- 2018. Department of Otolaryngology Residency Didactics. Galveston, TX, US.
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Okereke IC, Westra J, Tyler D, Klimberg S, Jupiter D, Venkatesan R, Brooks K, Kuo YF. Disparities in Esophageal Cancer Care Based on Race: A National Cancer Database analysis. Dis Esophagus 35(6), 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 34918057.
- Hunzeker ZE, Bhakta P, Gudipally SR, Kavuri SB, Venkatesan R, Nwanze C. Complete Response of High Microsatellite Instability Gastric Cancer and Synchronous Microsatellite Stability Rectal Cancer. Cureus 14(6):e25820, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35836435.
- Bigham L, Rawas F, Vinnakota R, Venkatesan R, Nawgiri R, Mallick J, Lyapichev KA. Synchronous Lymph Node Involvement by Metastatic Carcinoma and Lymphoma. EJHaem 3(2):551-552, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35846059.
- Nelson BE, Tipton S, Venkatesan R. Early Onset Neutropenia due to Rituximab Therapy in Mantle Cell Lymphoma - A Case Report. J Hematol 10(3):136-138, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34267851.
- Cordova J, Nelson B, Brizendine AM, Iqbal F, Venkatesan R. CD5+ Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma with Leukemic Transformation: A Rare Case with Central Nervous System Involvement, Treated with R-CHOP and Intrathecal Methotrexate/Cytarabine. Cureus 13(6):e15838, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34327076.
- Nelson B, Brizendine AM, Gietzen R, Venkatesan R. Case of HER2neu+ Invasive Pleomorphic Lobular Carcinoma with Response to Conventional Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: A Viable Option for an Exceedingly Rare Breast Cancer Type. Cureus 12(10):e11108, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33240704.
- Nelson B, Hong A, Iqbal F, Venkatesan R. An Advanced AIDS Patient with CD4 <20 and Plasmablastic Lymphoma Achieving Complete Response with the V-EPOCH Regimen. Cureus 12(6):e8641, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32685310.
- Suthar KH, Al Mutar S, Venkatesan R. Oxaliplatin-Induced Pulmonary Toxicity: A rare but serious complication. Cureus 31(12):e7483, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32351861.
- Kesireddy M, Correa A, Venkatesan R. A Pedunculated Skin Lesion in a Case of Clear Cell Renal Carcinoma. Cureus 11(6), 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31497450.
- Suthar K, Sides M, Correa A, Venkatesan R. Neoadjuvant Radiation with Concurrent 5-FU Resulting in Complete Pathologic Response in Stage IIIB Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Penis. Case Reports in Oncologic Medicine, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 32110455.
- Venkatesan, R, Willis, M, Campbell, B, Nguyen, B, Li, S. Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer Presenting as a Large Retroperitoneal Mass. Journal of Community and Supportive Oncology 16(1):e34-e36, 2018. e-Pub 2018.
- Venkatesan R, Hirani N, Willis M, Jana B, Cheema Z. Impending Carotid Blowout from a Large Neck Mass Treated Sequentially with Endovascular Coil Embolization Followed by Induction Chemotherapy. J Oncol Pract 14(2):136-138, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29016223.
- Venkatesan R, MD, Willis AM, MD, Campbell A, MD, Nguyen BB, DO, Sharon Li BA, MD. Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer Presenting as a Large Retroperitoneal Mass: An exceedingly rare case and review of the literature. The Journal of Community and Supportive Oncology, 2018. e-Pub 2018.
- Venkatesan R. Attitude may not be Everything, but it's Definitely Something. Oncology Fellows, 2018. e-Pub 2018.
- Venkatesan R, Methachittiphan N, Berbarie RF, Aaron E, Jaffery Z, Rangasetty U. Late Diagnosis of Wellens’ Syndrome in a Patient Presenting with an Atypical Acute Coronary Syndrome. American Journal of Emergency Medicine 34(2), 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 26265400.
- Venkatesan R, Davee RA, Karnath BM. A Rare Case of Metastatic Gastric Adenocarcinoma causing Spontaneous Tumor Lysis Syndrome and Acute Renal Failure. The International Journal of Cancer and Oncology, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Venkatesan R, Methachittiphan N, Berbarie RF, Aaron E, Jaffery Z, Rangasetty U. Late Diagnosis of Wellens’ Syndrome in a Patient Presenting with an Atypical Acute Coronary Syndrome. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine 34(2):338.e3-338.e5, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26265400.
- Venkatesan R, Davee RA, Karnath BM. A Rare Case of Metastatic Gastric Adenocarcinoma causing Spontaneous Tumor Lysis Syndrome, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Venkatesan R, Salam A, Alawin I, Willis M. Non-small Cell Lung Cancer and Elevated Eosinophil Count: A case report and literature review. Cancer Treatment Communications, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Venkatesan, R, Salam, A, Alawin, I, Willis, M. Non-small Cell Lung Cancer and Elevated Eosinophil Count. Cancer Treatment Communications 4:55-58, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Venkatesan R, Baxter K, Patcha K, Al hanayneh M, Sharif R. Improving the Rate of Retinopathy Screening in our Diabetic Patients: A quality improvement project, 2014. e-Pub 2014.
- Venkatesan R, Siddiqui M, Molnar H, Davila F. When Mandibular Osteomyelitis is not Mandibular Osteomyelitis, Expanding the Differential Diagnosis, 2013. e-Pub 2013.
- Nelson B, Greiner B, Venkatesan R. Steroid Use and the Efficacy of Cancer Immunotherapy and Overall Survival: A single institution, retrospective cohort study.
Review Articles
- Mallick J, Peterson JM, Pina-Oviedo S, Patel N, Venkatesan R, Stevenson HL, Qiu S, Shen Y, Lyapichev KA. Liver Metastasis of Thymoma: Case Report and Review of the Literature. Int J Surg Pathol 31(5):755-760, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36259324.
- Thakker RA, Lee MA, Albaeni A, Elbadawi A, Suthar KH, Perez C, Sonstein LK, Farr NM, Venkatesan R, Khalife W, Berbarie RF, Chatila KF. Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes in Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy-associated Myocarditis. Cardiol Res 12(5):270-278, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34691324.
Editorials
- Venkatesan R. What Is Our Skill?. Oncology Fellows, 2017.
- Venkatesan R. A Case of Strep Intermedius Causing Multiple Liver Abscesses in a Healthy Young Male.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified July 22, 2026