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About Dr Akash Patnaik

Prof Patnaik is an internationally recognized genitourinary medical oncologist and physician-scientist who leads a translational research program (laboratory and clinical trials) in immuno-oncology and related therapeutics. He is Deputy Section Chief for Translational Research within the Section of Hematology/Oncology at University of Chicago, and Program Leader for Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics Program at the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCCCC). In the context of these leadership roles, Dr Patnaik is focused on expanding the breadth and depth of translational research and training; this includes enhancing translational team science collaborations across the Cancer Center, catalyzing program project grants, and strengthening academia–industry research partnerships to facilitate both pre-clinical and investigator-initiated clinical trial collaborations across disease programs. He also serves as Chair of the Precision Oncology Tumor Board within UCCCC and Junior Faculty Mentoring Committee within Hematology/Oncology, and holds faculty appointments in the Committees on Cancer Biology, Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics at the University of Chicago.

Dr Patnaik’s translational research to date has provided significant insight into the mechanistic basis for immunotherapy resistance in aggressive-variant prostate cancer (AVPC). His work has led to the development of several therapeutic strategies to enhance myeloid innate immunity in genetically defined mouse models of AVPC and translated these discoveries into several clinical trials, for which he serves as principal investigator and/or national correlative science Chair. In particular, Dr Patnaik’s research is heavily focused on phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN)-deficient cancers, the development of novel therapeutic strategies, and understanding the role of the immune microenvironment in disease progression and treatment response. He was elected to the prestigious American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2025, in recognition of his outstanding scholarly contributions and national/international leadership in the field at or below the age of 50.

He is also a recipient of several prestigious national and international research grants/awards, including the National Cancer Institute (NCI) R01, SPORE, V Foundation Translational Research Award, two Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Awards, and industry funding to support his work. He serves as Deputy Editor for Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, an American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) journal, a leadership role he has held since 2019. He is also an expert reviewer for several international journals and sits on grant review committees for the NCI, American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and Department of Defense (DoD), as well as the AACR Annual Meeting Program Committee.