Ganesh Raj, M.D., Ph.D. - Faculty Profile

Biography

Dr. Raj joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2006 after completing his urology training at Duke University Medical Center and his urologic oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

He specializes in all aspects of urologic oncology, including the treatment of prostate, bladder, kidney and testis cancers. He is experienced in open, laparoscopic and robotic techniques. He has particular expertise in nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy, complex partial nephrectomy and orthotopic urinary diversion following radical cystectomy for bladder cancer. Dr. Raj’s clinical interests include optimizing oncologic and surgical outcomes for patients with urologic cancers utilizing minimally invasive approaches and multimodality approaches.

Dr. Raj is involved in setting up several clinical trials at UT Southwestern including novel imaging modalities for prostate cancers and precision medicine therapeutic approaches for patients with locally advanced prostate and bladder cancers. Along with Dr. John Minna and Hans Hammers, Dr. Raj co-directs the Experimental therapeutics program at the Simmons Cancer Center, which represents the largest program within the cancer center. He is intimately involved in enabling translational programs across multiple tumor types from preclinical discovery to clinical trial design.

His basic science research laboratory is primarily focused on deciphering the molecular mechanisms of therapy resistance in hormone dependent cancers, such as prostate and breast cancers in clinically and biologically relevant models. He recently developed a novel ex vivo culture methodology with Dr. Wayne Tilley for evaluation of primary cancer tissues. In conjunction with colleagues in chemistry notably Dr. JungMo Ahn, the Raj laboratory has developed several novel precision therapeutics against the androgen receptor in prostate cancer and estrogen receptor in breast cancer. These small molecules are being advanced towards clinical trials, which are planned for 2022 by a startup company, EtiraRx.

Dr. Raj has received peer reviewed funding from the National Cancer Institute, US Department of Defense and the Prostate Cancer Foundation. He is a co-recipient of the first ever US Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program Transformative Grant ($US6.8 million). The Raj laboratory is also enabled by philanthropic support from grateful patients and private foundations. The work in the Raj laboratory has been funded for research programs in breast, prostate, kidney, lung and pancreatic cancers. For further details of his research, please visit the Raj Lab website at http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/labs/raj/

Dr. Raj has received numerous honors for his work throughout his career, including the first prize from the American Urological Association for his laboratory research on prostate cancer. Dr. Raj has authored several high-impact publications in prestigious journals such as the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Oncology, Cancer and Molecular and Cellular Biology. He serves as reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals in the field of urology and oncology. He was elected as only the third urologist ever into the American Society of Clinical Investigation.

Education

Medical School: Jefferson Medical School (1997)
Internship/Residency: Duke University Medical Center (2004), Urology
Fellowship: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute (2006), Urologic Oncology

Research Interest

Androgen receptor signaling
Development of primary models of prostate and bladder cancers
Development of targeted therapeutics
http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/labs/raj/
Urologic cancers

Publications

Featured Publications

Taxol Induces Brk-dependent Prosurvival Phenotypes in TNBC Cells through an AhR/GR/HIF-driven Signaling Axis.: Regan Anderson TM, Ma S, Perez Kerkvliet C, Peng Y, Helle TM, Krutilina RI, Raj GV, Cidlowski JA, Ostrander JH, Schwertfeger KL, Seagroves TN, Lange CA Mol. Cancer Res. 2018 Jul
Targeting bromodomain and extra-terminal (BET) family proteins in castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).: Welti J, Sharp A, Yuan W, Dolling DI, Nava Rodrigues D, Figueiredo I, Gil V, Neeb A, Clarke M, Seed G, Crespo M, Sumanasuriya S, Ning J, Knight E, Francis JC, Hughes A, Halsey WS, Paschalis A, Mani RS, Raj GV, Plymate S, Carreira S, Boysen G, Chinnaiyan AM, Swain A, de Bono JS Clin. Cancer Res. 2018 Mar
Peri-Prostatic Adipose Tissue: The metabolic microenvironment of prostate cancer.: Nassar ZD, Aref AT, Miladinovic D, Mah CY, Raj GV, Hoy AJ, Butler LM BJU Int. 2018 Feb
Electrical Impedance Measurements of Biological Cells in Response to External Stimuli.: Mansoorifar A, Koklu A, Ma S, Raj GV, Beskok A Anal. Chem. 2018 Feb
A New Class of Agents for Estrogen-Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer.: Ekoue DN, Unni N, Raj GV Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol 2018 Feb
BRD4 Promotes DNA Repair and Mediates the Formation of TMPRSS2-ERG Gene Rearrangements in Prostate Cancer.: Li X, Baek G, Ramanand SG, Sharp A, Gao Y, Yuan W, Welti J, Rodrigues DN, Dolling D, Figueiredo I, Sumanasuriya S, Crespo M, Aslam A, Li R, Yin Y, Mukherjee B, Kanchwala M, Hughes AM, Halsey WS, Chiang CM, Xing C, Raj GV, Burma S, de Bono J, Mani RS Cell Rep 2018 Jan 22 3 796-808
Role of Androgen Receptor Variants in Prostate Cancer: Report from the 2017 Mission Androgen Receptor Variants Meeting.: Luo J, Attard G, Balk SP, Bevan C, Burnstein K, Cato L, Cherkasov A, De Bono JS, Dong Y, Gao AC, Gleave M, Heemers H, Kanayama M, Kittler R, Lang JM, Lee RJ, Logothetis CJ, Matusik R, Plymate S, Sawyers CL, Selth LA, Soule H, Tilley W, Weigel NL, Zoubeidi A, Dehm SM, Raj GV Eur. Urol. 2017 Dec
Role of Genetic Testing for Inherited Prostate Cancer Risk: Philadelphia Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference 2017.: Giri VN, Knudsen KE, Kelly WK, Abida W, Andriole GL, Bangma CH, Bekelman JE, Benson MC, Blanco A, Burnett A, Catalona WJ, Cooney KA, Cooperberg M, Crawford DE, Den RB, Dicker AP, Eggener S, Fleshner N, Freedman ML, Hamdy FC, Hoffman-Censits J, Hurwitz MD, Hyatt C, Isaacs WB, Kane CJ, Kantoff P, Karnes RJ, Karsh LI, Klein EA, Lin DW, Loughlin KR, Lu-Yao G, Malkowicz SB, Mann MJ, Mark JR, McCue PA, Miner MM, Morgan T, Moul JW, Myers RE, Nielsen SM, Obeid E, Pavlovich CP, Peiper SC, Penson DF, Petrylak D, Pettaway CA, Pilarski R, Pinto PA, Poage W, Raj GV, Rebbeck TR, Robson ME, Rosenberg MT, Sandler H, Sartor O, Schaeffer E, Schwartz GF, Shahin MS, Shore ND, Shuch B, Soule HR, Tomlins SA, Trabulsi EJ, Uzzo R, Vander Griend DJ, Walsh PC, Weil CJ, Wender R, Gomella LG J. Clin. Oncol. 2017 Dec JCO2017741173
Estrogen receptor coregulator binding modulators (ERXs) effectively target estrogen receptor positive human breast cancers.: Raj GV, Sareddy GR, Ma S, Lee TK, Viswanadhapalli S, Li R, Liu X, Murakami S, Chen CC, Lee WR, Mann M, Krishnan SR, Manandhar B, Gonugunta VK, Strand D, Tekmal RR, Ahn JM, Vadlamudi RK Elife 2017 Aug 6
Androgen receptor variants mediate DNA repair after prostate cancer irradiation.: Yin Y, Li R, Xu K, Ding S, Li J, Baek G, Ramanand SG, Ding S, Liu Z, Gao Y, Kanchwala MS, Li X, Hutchinson R, Liu X, Woldu SL, Xing C, Desai NB, Feng FY, Burma S, de Bono JS, Dehm SM, Mani RS, Chen BPC, Raj GV Cancer Res. 2017 Jul

Honors & Awards

American Society of Clinical Investigation
Nation's oldest medical honor society (2017)
FREEMASONS FOUNDATION CENTRE FOR MENS HEALTH
Visiting Lectureship, Adelaide Australia (2014)
FASEB CONFERENCE MERIT AWARD
Awarded to the top-rated abstract in steroid signaling (2010)
ASCO FOUNDATION MERIT AWARD
Awarded to the top-rated abstract in genitourinary oncology (2008)
ASCO Foundation Merit Award
Awarded to the top-rated abstracts in prostate cancer, Prostate Cancer Symposium, San Francisco, CA (2006)
Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Research Award
Awarded for perineural therapeutics and cavernous nerve injury, Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering (2005)
AUA/Praecis Gerald P. Murphy Scholar
Distinction in the study of prostate cancer, AUA Annual Meeting, Orlando FL (2002)
AUA Circon Basic Science Research Award (1st Place)
Laboratory research/ AUA Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA (2001)
Sigma Xi Research Award (1st Place)
Most outstanding basic science research of the year, Philadelphia Chapter, Sigma Xi Research Society, Philadelphia, PA (1994)

Professional Associations/Affiliations

American Association of Cancer Research (2006)
American Society of Clinical Investigation (2017)
American Urological Association (2004)
Society for Basic Urology research (2016)
Society of Urologic Oncology