This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member institution Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center and medical oncologist Shilpa Gupta, MD. Dr. Gupta is a genitourinary oncologist and the leader of the bladder cancer program at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute in Cleveland, Ohio. She is also a member and co-chair elect of Hoosier Cancer Research Network’s Genitourinary Clinical Trial Working Group.

Research Interests and Expertise:

Dr. Gupta’s research interests include novel drug development and understanding biomarkers of response and resistance to therapies in bladder cancer. She has led several early and late phase clinical trials in bladder cancer, including investigator-initiated trials. Currently, Dr. Gupta is leading a phase III maintenance immunotherapy intensification trial in urothelial cancer through the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology.

Dr. Gupta is Principal Investigator of the 2020 Department of Defense Idea Award to study the biomarkers of response and resistance to immunotherapy in bladder cancer and Co-Principal Investigator of the Department of Defense Team Translational Science Award to study immunotherapy combination strategies to overcome resistance in bladder cancer.

Additionally, Dr. Gupta is actively working on integrating pathomics and radiomics to identify biomarkers of response and resistance in bladder cancer.

Her research work has been published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Clinical Oncology, The Lancet Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research, and European Journal of Cancer, among others.

Dr. Gupta is also involved in several professional organizations, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), where she has been appointed to serve on the ASCO Annual Meeting Scientific Program and the SITC Anti-PD-1/PD-L1 Resistance Task Force.  She is on the panel of the SITC Cancer Immunotherapy Guidelines and has been appointed to the International Bladder Cancer Groups core committee and Society of International Urology Innovators.

Educational Background:

• Medical School: Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, India
• Residency: University of Connecticut Health Center, Internal Medicine
• Fellowships: Thomas Jefferson University, Hematology-Oncology and Genitourinary Oncology Translational Research

Three facts about Dr. Gupta:

• She likes hiking.
• She loves spending time with her boys, Arash and Arav, and her fur baby, Oreo.
• She loves spicy food.

About Hoosier Cancer Research Network:

Hoosier Cancer Research Network (formerly known as Hoosier Oncology Group) conducts innovative cancer research in collaboration with academic and community physicians and scientists across the United States. The organization provides comprehensive clinical trial management and support, from conception through publication. Created in 1984 as a program of the Walther Cancer Institute, Hoosier Cancer Research Network became an independent nonprofit clinical research organization in 2007. Since its founding, Hoosier Cancer Research Network has conducted more than 230 trials in a variety of cancer types and supportive care, resulting in more than 350 publications. More than 9,000 subjects have participated in Hoosier Cancer Research Network clinical trials.