Puneeth Iyengar, M.D., Ph.D.

Puneeth Iyengar, M.D., Ph.D., is Associate Professor and Vice Chair, Strategy and Program Development, in the Department of Radiation Oncology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He is also co-leader of the Thoracic Program at Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center. His clinical focus is studying local therapy for oligometastatic NSCLC and has published significantly on this, including many top-tier journals such as the Journal of Clinical Oncology, JAMA Oncology, The Lancet Oncology, among others.

As a physician scientist, Dr. Iyengar runs an independent research laboratory that’s focused on studying the complex crosstalk between inflammatory states, cachexia, and lung cancer progression and therapeutic resistance. His research program has been funded by several organizations including the National Lung Cancer Partnership, Lung Cancer Research Foundation, and Radiological Society of North America. He received the President’s Council Distinguished Researcher Award from UT Southwestern, the Sidney Kimmel Research Foundation Award, and the American Cancer Society Independent Investigator Research Scholar Award.

He has led programs investigating the use of local therapy (SBRT) in the setting of oligometastatic NSCLC (Iyengar et al, JCO 2014; Iyengar et al JAMA Oncology 2017); hypofractionated therapies for stage III NSCLC; and is principal investigator of NRG LU 002, a phase III randomized trial assessing the benefits of local therapy on overall survival for stage IV NSCLC.

Dr. Iyengar received his undergraduate degree from MIT, his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (NYC), and did his radiation oncology residency at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is board certified in radiation oncology and has been granted medical licensure to practice in Texas.

Medical School

Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2005)

Other Post Graduate Training

Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2005)

Graduate School

Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2005), Cell Biology

Internship

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (2006), Internal Medicine

Residency

UT MD Anderson Cancer Center (2010), Radiation Oncology

• Inflammation and lung cancer
• Lung cancer radiation resistance
• Metabolic dysregulation and lung cancer
• Oligometastatic lung cancer and treatment with radiation
• Pathophysiology and biology of cachexia

Featured Publications

Modeling the Impact of Cardiopulmonary Irradiation on Overall Survival in NRG Oncology Trial RTOG 0617.

Thor M, Deasy JO, Hu C, Gore E, Bar-Ad V, Robinson C, Wheatley M, Oh JH, Bogart J, Garces YI, Kavadi VS, Narayan S, Iyengar P, Witt JS, Welsh JW, Koprowski CD, Larner JM, Xiao Y, Bradley J, Clin Cancer Res 2020 Sep 26 17 4643-4650

JAK Inhibitors Suppress Cancer Cachexia-Associated Anorexia and Adipose Wasting in Mice.

Arora G, Gupta A, Guo T, Gandhi A, Laine A, Williams D, Ahn C, Iyengar P, Infante R, JCSM Rapid Commun 2020 Jul-Dec 3 2 115-128

Defining oligometastatic disease from a radiation oncology perspective: An ESTRO-ASTRO consensus document.

Lievens Y, Guckenberger M, Gomez D, Hoyer M, Iyengar P, Kindts I, Méndez Romero A, Nevens D, Palma D, Park C, Ricardi U, Scorsetti M, Yu J, Woodward WA, Radiother Oncol 2020 07 148 157-166

Practice Recommendations for Lung Cancer Radiotherapy During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An ESTRO-ASTRO Consensus Statement.

Guckenberger M, Belka C, Bezjak A, Bradley J, Daly ME, DeRuysscher D, Dziadziuszko R, Faivre-Finn C, Flentje M, Gore E, Higgins KA, Iyengar P, Kavanagh BD, Kumar S, Le Pechoux C, Lievens Y, Lindberg K, McDonald F, Ramella S, Rengan R, Ricardi U, Rimner A, Rodrigues GB, Schild SE, Senan S, Simone CB 2nd, Slotman BJ, Stuschke M, Videtic G, Widder J, Yom SS, Palma D, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2020 07 107 4 631-640

Phase II Trial of Hippocampal-Sparing Whole Brain Irradiation with Simultaneous Integrated Boost (HSIB-WBRT) for Metastatic Cancer.

Westover KD, Mendel JT, Dan T, Kumar K, Gao A, Pulipparacharuv S, Iyengar P, Nedzi L, Hannan R, Anderson J, Choe KS, Jiang W, Abdulrahman R, Rahimi A, Folkert M, Laine A, Presley C, Cullum CM, Choy H, Ahn C, Timmerman R, Neuro-oncology 2020 Apr

Long-Term Results of NRG Oncology RTOG 0617: Standard- Versus High-Dose Chemoradiotherapy With or Without Cetuximab for Unresectable Stage III Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

Bradley JD, Hu C, Komaki RR, Masters GA, Blumenschein GR, Schild SE, Bogart JA, Forster KM, Magliocco AM, Kavadi VS, Narayan S, Iyengar P, Robinson CG, Wynn RB, Koprowski CD, Olson MR, Meng J, Paulus R, Curran WJ, Choy H, J. Clin. Oncol. 2019 Dec JCO1901162

Changing equipoise in the landscape of radiation for oligometastatic lung cancer.

Schroeder SR, Leenders M, Iyengar P, de Ruysscher D, Transl Lung Cancer Res 2019 Sep 8 Suppl 2 S184-S191

Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy (SAbR) in the Setting of Metastatic Nonseminomatous Germ Cell Tumor of Testis.

Satyanarayan A, Mooney R, Bhanvadia RR, Iyengar P, Margulis V, Desai NB, Bagrodia A, Clin Genitourin Cancer 2019 Apr

A Phase II Clinical Trial of SAbR Followed by Immediate Vertebroplasty for Spine Metastases.

Wardak Z, Bland R, Ahn C, Xie XJ, Chason D, Morrill K, Stehel E, Nedzi L, Ding C, Medin P, Boike T, Abdulrahman R, Folkert M, Iyengar P, Kim N, Choy H, Bagley C, Timmerman R Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 2019 Jan

Safety and Efficacy of a Five-Fraction Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy Schedule for Centrally Located Non?Small-Cell Lung Cancer: NRG Oncology/RTOG 0813 Trial

Andrea Bezjak, Rebecca Paulus, Laurie E. Gaspar, Robert D. Timmerman, Puneeth Iyengar, et al. J Clin Oncol 2019 37 15 1316-1325

• American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology
  Plenary Speaker (2017)
• ARRO
  Educator of the Year Teaching Award (2017)
• American Cancer Society
  Research Scholar (2015)
• Sidney Kimmel Cancer Research Foundation
  Translational Research Award (2013)
• UT Southwestern Medical Center
  President Research Council Distinguished Research Award (2012)
• Lung Cancer Research Foundation
  Research Award (2011)
• National Lung Cancer Partnership
  Young Investigator Research Award (2011)
• Radiological Society of North America
  RSNA Research Grant Award Winner (2011)
• Roentgen Research Award, RSNA Research and Education Foundation
  Research Resident Award (2010)
• NIH Medical Scientist Training Program
  MD/PhD Program (2005)
• ECOG Young Investigator Award cosponsored by Aventis
  (2001)

• American Society of Clinical Oncology (2010)
• International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (2010)
• Lung Cancer Research Foundation (2010)
• National Lung Cancer Partnership (NLCP) (2010)
• NSABP – RTOG – GOG (NRG) – Member of Lung Steering Committee (2010)
• American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) (2006)
• Radiological Society of North America (2006)
• American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology
• Free to Breathe
• NRG Oncology
• Radiation Therapy Oncology Group