Charu Aggarwal MD MPH

Oncology•Philadelphia, PA

Thoracic Cancer

Leslye Heisler Associate Professor for Lung Cancer Excellence, Perelman School of Medicine

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3400 Spruce StPhiladelphia, PA 19104
Phone+1 215-662-4000

Summary

Dr. Charu Aggarwal is the Leslye Heisler Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Hematology-Oncology Division at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. She is an active member of the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) where she serves as Physician Leader for the clinical research program for Airways Malignancies.
Dr. Aggarwal specializes in the management of patients with lung and head and neck cancer, with a specific and clinical research focus on the development of novel immunotherapeutic approaches, and the discovery and application of biomarkers to guide therapy and monitor treatment. She serves as the local and national principle investigator for multiple clinical trials focusing on the development of “targeted” immunotherapeutic approaches including cellular therapy and CAR-T for solid tumors. Dr. Aggarwal has led the development of a DNA plasmid based HPV specific immunotherapy for HPV associated head and neck cancers. She is actively involved in evaluating the role of plasma-based NGS in management of patients with metastatic lung cancer.

Education & Training

Temple University Hospital-Fox Chase Cancer CenterFellowship, Hematology and Medical Oncology, 2008 - 2011
University at BuffaloResidency, Internal Medicine, 2005 - 2008
Lady Hardinge Medical CollegeClass of 2003

Certifications & Licensure

PA State Medical License 2008 - 2026

Awards, Honors, & Recognition

CMS Meaningful Use Stage 1 Certification EpicCare Ambulatory EMR, Epic Systems Corporation, 2012-2013

Clinical Trials

Cisplatin and Etoposide With or Without Veliparib in Treating Patients With Extensive Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer Start of enrollment: 2012 Sep 28
Completed
Phase 1, Phase 2
Etirinotecan Pegol (NKTR-102) in NSCLC Start of enrollment: 2013 Jan 01
Completed
Phase 2
Intrapleural AdV-tk Therapy in Patients With Malignant Pleural Effusion Start of enrollment: 2013 Oct 01
Completed
Phase 1
Study of HPV Specific Immunotherapy in Participants With HPV Associated Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Start of enrollment: 2014 Aug 13
Completed
Phase 1, Phase 2
Immunotherapy in Subjects With HPV-6 Associated Aerodigestive Precancerous Lesions and Malignancies Start of enrollment: 2014 May 01
Completed
Phase 1
Safety Study of Enoblituzumab (MGA271) in Combination With Pembrolizumab or MGA012 in Refractory Cancer Start of enrollment: 2015 Jul 01
Completed
Phase 1
Lung-MAP: Taselisib as Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage IV Squamous Cell Lung Cancer and Positive Biomarker Matches Start of enrollment: 2014 Nov 01
Completed
Phase 2
Lung-MAP: Palbociclib as Second-Line Therapy in Treating Cell Cycle Gene Alteration Positive Patients With Recurrent Stage IV Squamous Cell Lung Cancer Start of enrollment: 2014 Sep 01
Completed
Phase 2, Phase 3
Lung-MAP: Nivolumab With or Without Ipilimumab as Second-Line Therapy in Treating Patients With Recurrent Stage IV Squamous Cell Lung Cancer and No Matching Biomarkers Start of enrollment: 2015 Dec 29
Active, not recruiting
Phase 3
ASCO Survey on COVID-19 in Oncology (ASCO) Registry Start of enrollment: 2020 Apr 19
Active, not recruiting
Roles: Contact
Binimetinib and Hydroxychloroquine in Patients With Advanced KRAS Mutant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Start of enrollment: 2021 Apr 09
COMPLETED
PHASE2
Roles: Principal Investigator, Contact
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Publications & Presentations

PubMed

HSR25-167: Real-World Study Demonstrates Lack of Biomarker-driven Care in First-Line Treatment for Advanced/Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer That Received Next-Ge...
Melina E Marmarelis, Adrienne M Gilligan, Tomoko Sugihara, Shen Zheng, Tyler Marquart
Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. 2025-03-28
Management of Patients WithExon 20-Mutant Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.
Lova Sun, Melina E Marmarelis, Charu Aggarwal
Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2025-03-07
Brief Report: Osimertinib Plus Capmatinib for Patients With MET-Altered EGFR-Mutant NSCLC Following Progression on Front Line Therapy.
Omar Elghawy, Adam Barsouk, Lauren Reed-Guy, Margaret Stalker, Jonathan Sussman
Clinical Lung Cancer. 2025-03-01

Journal Articles

Cisplatin Versus Cetuximab with Definitive Concurrent Radiotherapy for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: An Analysis of Veterans Health Affairs Data
Ravi Vinnakota, Keith Sigel, Joshua M Bauml, Roger B Cohen, Nevena Damjanov, Corey J Langer, Ronac Mamtani, Charu Aggarwal, Christina Knepley, Juan Wisnivesky, Cancer
Immunotherapy Targeting HPV 16/18 Generates Potent Immune Responses in HPV-Associated Head and Neck Cancer
Gregory S Weinstein, Charu Aggarwal, Roger B Cohen, Joshua Bauml, Alexander Lin, Clinical Cancer Research
Thoracic Imaging of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treated with Anti-Programmed Death Receptor-1 Therapy
Sharyn I Katz, Arun C Nachiappan, Joshua Bauml, Stephen Bagley, Charu Aggarwal, Corey Langer, ScienceDirect

Lectures

Dynamic monitoring of circulating tumor DNA next-generation gene sequencing as a predictive biomarker of response and progression-free survival after pembrolizumab mon...
ASCO Annual Meeting 2019 - Chicago, IL - 6/1/2019

Press Mentions

A ‘Fool’s Errand’? Picking a Winner for Treating Early-Stage NSCLCMarch 27th, 2025
Experimental CAN-2409 Shows Promise in Advanced Lung CancerMarch 26th, 2025
Many Hurdles Exist to Treating Lung Cancer with CAR T CellsOctober 10th, 2024
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