
Subha Perni, M.D.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Division of Radiation Oncology
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Services Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
2017 | Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, NY, USA, MD, Medical Degree |
2011 | Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA, AB, Philosophy |
Postgraduate Training
2018-2022 | Clinical Residency, Radiation Oncology, Harvard Radiation Oncology Program, Boston, MA |
2017-2018 | Clinical Internship, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY |
Honors & Awards
2021 | Quality Symposium Merit Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology |
2021 | Merit Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology |
2021 | Well-being Education Grant, Massachusetts General Hospital |
2019 | Resident/Fellow Election to Massachusetts Medical Society Ethics Committee, Massachusetts Medical Society |
2017 | Robert F. Loeb Award for excellence in clinical medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons |
2017 | Glasgow-Rubin Achievement Award for women graduating in top 10% of class, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons |
2017 | Alpha Omega Alpha Society |
2016 | Knapp Scholarship for highest academic achievement in medical school, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons |
2016 | Trainee Travel Award, Radiological Society of North America |
2016 | Fellowship at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics |
2016 | AMA Journal of Ethics Guest Editor Selection, American Medical Association |
2016 | Steve P. Miller Grant for Humanism in Medical Education, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons |
2016 | Seed Grant, American Medical Association |
2015 | "Mapping The Landscape, Journeying Together" Grant, Arnold P. Gold Foundation |
2015 | Medical Student Research Grant, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons |
2011 | Class of 1869 Prize in Ethics for academic work in philosophy, Princeton University |
2007 | United States Presidential Scholar, United States Department of Education |
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Cho HL, Balboni T, Christ SM, Turner B, Spektor A, Perni S. Is oligometastatic cancer curable?: a survey of oncologist perspectives, decision-making, and communication. Adv Radiat Oncol 8(5):101221, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37124028.
- Hosny A, Bitterman DS, Guthier CV, Qian JM, Roberts H, Perni S, Saraf A, Peng LC, Pashtan I, Ye Z, Kann BH, Kozono DE, Christiani D, Catalano PJ, Aerts HJWL, Mak RH.. Clinical validation of deep learning algorithms for radiotherapy targeting of non-small-cell lung cancer: an observational study. Lancet Digital Health, 2022. e-Pub 2022.
- Perni S, Gorton E, Park ER, Chabner BA, Moy B, Nipp RD. Financial toxicity, symptom burden, illness perceptions, and communication confidence in cancer clinical trial participants. JCO Oncology Practice, 2022. e-Pub 2022.
- Gartrell R, Enzler T, Kim P, Fullerton B, Fazlollahi L, Chen A, Perni S, Weisberg S, Rizk E, Wang S, Mondal M, Oh EJ, Guo X, Chiuzan C, Manji G, Bates S, Chabot J, Schrope B, Kluger M, Emond J, Rabadan R, Farber D, Remotti H, Horowitz DP, Saenger Y. Neoadjuvant chemo-radiation treated pancreatic cancer displays altered immune micro-environment including infiltration of regulatory T cells. Oncoimmunology, 2022. e-Pub 2022.
- Perni S*, Bitterman D*, Ryan J, Silver JK, Mitchell E, Christensen S, Daniels M, Bloom M, Hochberg E, Ryan D, Haas-Kogan D, Loeffler JS, Tarbell NJ, Parikh A, Wo J. Gender, productivity, and philanthropic fundraising in academic oncology. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 2021. e-Pub 2021.
- Perni S, Moy B, Nipp RD. Disparities in phase I cancer clinical trial enrollment: a cross-sectional study. Cancer, 2021. e-Pub 2021.
- Rooney MK, Santiago G, Perni S, Horowitz DP, McCall AR, Einstein AJ, Jagsi R, Golden DW. Readability of patient education materials from high-impact journals: a 20-year analysis. Journal of Patient Experience, 2021. e-Pub 2021.
- Burns ZT, Bitterman DS, Perni S, Boyle PJ, Guss CE, Haas-Kogan DA, Liu KX. Clinical characteristics, experiences, and outcomes of transgender patients with cancer. JAMA Oncology, 2021. e-Pub 2021.
- Perni S*, Milligan MG*, Saraf A, Vivenzio T, Marques A, Baker MA, Kosak T, Bartlett S, Physic MA, Batcheldere MR, McBride S, Breedfeldt J, Cail DW, Kearney MC, Whitehouse C, Orio P, Walsh G, Haas-Kogan DA, Martin NE.. Treating the SARS-CoV-2-positive cancer patient: a proposal for a pragmatic and transparent ethical process. Cancer, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Sha ST, Perni S, Muralidhar V, Mahal BA, Sanford NN, Nguyen PL, Dee EC.. Trends, quality, and readability of online health resources on proton radiation therapy. International Journal of Radiation Oncology * Biology * Physics, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Perni S*, Pollack LR*, Gonzalez WC, Dzeng E, Baldwin MR. Moral distress and burnout in caring for older adults during medical school training. BMC Medical Education, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Perni S*, Rooney M*, Horowitz DP, Golden DW, McCall AR, Einstein AJ, Jagsi R. Written clinical informed consent for patients with cancer undergoing radiotherapy: a nationwide survey and readability analysis. JAMA Oncology, 2019. e-Pub 2019.
- Elhalawani H, Lin TA, Volpe S, Mohamed ASR, White AL, Zafereo J, Wong AJ, Berends JE, AboHashem S, Williams B, Aymard JM, Kanwar A, Perni S, Rock CD, Cooksey L, Campbell S, Yang P, Nguyen K, Ger RB, Cardenas CE, Fave XJ, Sansone C, Piantadosi G, Marrone S, Liu R, Huang C, Yu K, Li T, Yu Y, Zhang Y, Zhu H, Morris JS, Baladandayuthapani V, Shumway JW, Date: September 5, 2022 Perni 4 Ghosh A, Pöhlmann A, Phoulady HA, Goyal V, Canahuate G, Marai GE, Vock D, Lai SY, Mackin DS, Court LE, Freymann J, Farahani K, Kaplathy-Cramer J, Fuller CD.. Machine learning applications in head and neck radiation oncology: lessons from open-source radiomics challenges. Frontiers in Oncology, 2018. e-Pub 2018.
- Elhalwani H, Kanwar A, Mohamed ASR, White A, Zafereo J, Wong A, Berends J, Abohashem S, Williams B, Aymard JM, Perni S, Messer J, Warren B, Youssef B, Yang P, Meheissen MAM, Kamal M, Elgohari B, Ger RB, Cardenas CE, Fave X, Zhang L, Mackin D, Marai GE, Vock DM, Canahuate GM, Lai SY, Gunn GB, Garden AS, Rosenthal DI, Court L, Fuller CD. Investigation of radiomics based signature for local recurrence using primary tumor texture analysis in oropharyngeal head and neck cancer patients. Scientific Reports, 2018. e-Pub 2018.
- Elhalwani H, Mohamed ASR, White AL, Zafereo J, Wong AJ, Berends JE, AboHashem S, Williams B, Aymard JM, Kanwar A, Perni S, Rock CD, Cooksey L, Campbell S, Ding Y, Lai SY, Marai EG, Vock D, Canahuate GM, Freymann J, Farahani K, Kalpathy-Cramer J, Fuller CD. Matched computed tomography segmentation and demographic data for oropharyngeal radiomics challenges. Nature Scientific Data, 2017. e-Pub 2017.
- Perni S, Wang TJ, Lesser J, Mandigo C, Isaacson SR, Horowitz DP. Gamma knife treatment of recurrent CNS metastases of pancreatic origin: a case report and review of the literature. CNS Oncology, 2017. e-Pub 2017.
- Perni S*, Mohamed ASR*, Garden AS, Gunn B, Rosenthal D, Scott J, Fuller CD. Impact of pretreatment volumetric tumor growth velocity on oncologic outcomes in oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer. Oral Oncology, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Perni S, Kim SK, Chin C, Pfister NT, Tiwari A, Horowitz DP. Radiotherapy for right-sided breast cancer in a patient with pectus excavatum: a comparison of treatment techniques. Practical Radiation Oncology, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Zalay O, Bontempi D, Bitterman DS, Birkbak N, Qian JM, Roberts H, Perni S, Dekker A, Balboni T, Warren L, Krishnan M, Kann BH, Swanton C, De Ruysscher D, Mak RH, Aerts HJWL. Decoding biologic age from face photographs using deep learning. Nature.
- Sanchez A, Aziz Z, Perni S, Kachnic LA, Horowitz DP. Sarcopenia is not a contraindication to chemoradiotherapy and surgery for patients with locally-advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Advances in Radiation Oncology.
Invited Articles
- Perni S, Jimenez R, Jagsi R. Optimizing informed consent in cancer clinical trials. Seminars in Radiation Oncology.
Manuals, Teaching Aids, Other Teaching Publications
- Perni S, Jimenez R. Harvard Medical School Radiation Oncology Career Advising Guide , 2022.
Editorials
- Milligan M, Saraf A, Perni S. Medical misinformation: trainees on the starting line of truth. Academic Medicine, 2021.
- Perni S, Hong K, Hong TS, Nipp RD. Towards a science of personalized informed consent for cancer clinical trials. JCO Oncology Practice, 2021.
- Perni S, Saraf A, Milligan M.. The resident room. Practical Radiation Oncology, 2021.
- Perni S, Saraf A, Milligan M, Oladeru OT, Franco I, Elmore SNC.. A paradigm shift in radiation oncology training. Advances in Radiation Oncology, 2021.
- Franco I*, Perni S*, Wiley S, Drapek L. Equity in radiation oncology post-COVID: bridging the telemedicine gap. International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, 2020.
- Oladeru OT, Perni S, Williams B.. Improving care for the overlooked in oncology: incarcerated patients. Lancet Oncology, 2019.
- Perni S. Moral distress: a call to action. AMA Journal of Ethics, 2017.
- Cho HL, Perni S, D'Amico AV, Yamoah K, Dee EC. How can we address disparities in access to Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen-targeted imaging?. Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases.
- Perni S, Smart A, Larios D, Boyd G, Saraf A, Balboni TA. Rising to the challenges and opportunities of technology: building a humanism curriculum in radiation oncology. Advances in Radiation Oncology.
Book Chapters
- Cho HL, Perni S. Ethics and Review Boards. In: Eltorai, Baker, Wazer, Kim, eds. Translational Radiation Oncology. Elsevier.
- Perni S, Elkins IB, Feldman J. Patient Perspectives. In: Eltorai, Baker, Wazer, Kim, eds. Translational Radiation Oncology. Elsevier.