Joseph Drabick, MD - Penn State Cancer Institute
Researcher Profile
Joseph Drabick, MD
Professor and Rose Dunlap Division Chief Chair in Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine
Division of Hematology and Oncology
Division of Hematology and Oncology
Scientific Program:Next-Generation Therapies
Disease Teams:
Cancer Institute, Brain and Central Nervous System Cancer Team
Cancer Institute, Genitourinary Cancer Team
Cancer Institute, Immunotherapy Team
Cancer Institute, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Team
Cancer Institute, Sarcoma Cancer Team
Cancer Institute, Genitourinary Cancer Team
Cancer Institute, Immunotherapy Team
Cancer Institute, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Team
Cancer Institute, Sarcoma Cancer Team
Clinical Trials
A Pragmatic Randomized Phase III Trial Evaluating Total Ablative Therapy for Patients With Limited Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Evaluating Radiation, Ablation, and Surgery (ERASur) A022101
General Protocol for the Acquisition of Whole Blood for the Detection and Characterization of Circulating Tumor Cells and/or Tumor Specific Immunity/Immune Cell Activation for any Malignancy at any Stage of Disease
A Retrospective Evaluation to Understand how â-adrenergic Antagonism Impacts the Progression of Melanoma and the Efficacy of Standard Treatments Intended to Eliminate the Cancer
Colon Adjuvant Chemotherapy Based on Evaluation of Residual Disease (CIRCULATE-US) (NRG-GI008)
The Janus Rectal Cancer Trial: A Randomized Phase II Trial Testing The Efficacy of Triplet Versus Doublet Chemotherapy to Achieve Clinical Complete Response in Patients With Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer
A Phase III Trial Of Perioperative Versus Adjuvant Chemotherapy For Resectable Pancreatic Cancer
A Phase 1b/2, Dose-escalation, Randomized, Multicenter Study of Maintenance Ivaltinostat plus Capecitabine or Capecitabine Monotherapy in Patients with Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Whose Disease Has Not Progressed on First Line FOLFIRINOX Chemotherapy
Recent Publications
2025
Lü, J, Jiang, C, Drabick, JJ, Joshi, M & Perimbeti, S 2025, 'Angelica gigas Nakai (Korean Dang-gui) Root Alcoholic Extracts in Health Promotion and Disease Therapy – active Phytochemicals and In Vivo Molecular Targets', Pharmaceutical Research, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 25-47. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-024-03809-9
2024
Pu, JJ, Berger, KN, Zheng, C, Do, N, Claxton, DF, Ehmann, WC, Drabick, JJ, Li, H, Loughran, TP & Epner, EM 2024, 'A phase I study using bortezomib (Velcade), cladribine, and rituximab in treating patients over 50 years old with mantle cell lymphoma', Frontiers in Oncology, vol. 14, 1449401. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2024.1449401
Pu, JJ, Drabick, JJ & Prockop, SE 2024, 'Editorial: Checkpoint inhibition in hematologic malignancies', Frontiers in Oncology, vol. 14, 1429854. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2024.1429854
Hiller, A, Oxford, M, Kulkarni, P, Fornadley, J, Lo, A, Sivik, J, Drabick, J & Vakharia, K 2024, 'Efficacy of Cemiplimab as Adjuvant or Neoadjuvant Therapy in the Treatment of Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma', Annals of plastic surgery, vol. 92, no. 4, pp. S129-S131. https://doi.org/10.1097/SAP.0000000000003847
Vangala, V, Chen, YC, Dinavahi, SS, Gowda, K, Lone, NA, Herlyn, M, Drabick, J, Helm, K, Zhu, J, Neves, RI, Sharma, AK, Berg, A, Archetti, M, Amin, S, Schell, TD & Robertson, GP 2024, 'Tumor Heterogeneity Shapes Survival Dynamics in Drug-Treated Cells, Revealing Size-Drifting Subpopulations', ACS Pharmacology and Translational Science, vol. 7, no. 11, pp. 3573-3584. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsptsci.4c00453
2023
Joshi, M, Tuanquin, L, Zhu, J, Walter, V, Schell, T, Kaag, M, Kilari, D, Liao, J, Holder, SL, Emamekhoo, H, Sankin, A, Merrill, S, Zheng, H, Warrick, J, Hauke, R, Gartrel, B, Stein, M, Drabick, J, Degraff, DJ & Zakharia, Y 2023, 'Concurrent durvalumab and radiation therapy (DUART) followed by adjuvant durvalumab in patients with localized urothelial cancer of bladder: Results from phase II study, BTCRC-GU15-023', Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, vol. 11, no. 2, e006551. https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2022-006551
Lü, J, Jiang, C, Joshi, M & Drabick, JJ 2023, Giant Angelica: Angelica gigas Nakai – Herbal Giant’s Anticancer Potential. in Ancient and Traditional Foods, Plants, Herbs and Spices used in Cancer. CRC Press, pp. 165-180. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003260028-15
2021
Joshi, M, Holder, SL, Zhu, J, Zheng, H, Komanduri, S, Warrick, J, Yasin, H, Gajre, R, Jia, B, Drabick, JJ, DeGraff, DJ & Zakharia, Y 2022, 'Avelumab in Combination with Eribulin Mesylate in Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma: BTCRC GU-051, a Phase 1b Study', European Urology Focus, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 483-490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euf.2021.03.005
Spengler, M, Wheelden, M, MacKley, HB & Drabick, JJ 2021, 'Durable major response with pazopanib in recurrent, heavily pretreated metastatic esthesioneuroblastoma harboring a fumarate hydratase mutation', JCO Precision Oncology, vol. 5, pp. 664-669. https://doi.org/10.1200/PO.20.00486
Nesterova, D, Zhu, J, Kramer, C, Vasekar, M, Truica, C, Joshi, A, Hayes, M, Kessler, J, Saunders, EFH, Drabick, JJ & Joshi, M 2022, 'Group-led creative writing and behavioural health in cancer: A randomised clinical trial', BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 91-98. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjspcare-2020-002463
Abraham, J, Heimberger, AB, Marshall, J, Heath, E, Drabick, J, Helmstetter, A, Xiu, J, Magee, D, Stafford, P, Nabhan, C, Antani, S, Johnston, C, Oberley, M, Korn, WM & Spetzler, D 2021, 'Machine learning analysis using 77,044 genomic and transcriptomic profiles to accurately predict tumor type', Translational Oncology, vol. 14, no. 3, 101016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranon.2021.101016
Zaorsky, NG, Khunsriraksakul, C, Acri, SL, Liu, DJ, Ba, DM, Lin, JL, Liu, G, Segel, JE, Drabick, JJ, Mackley, HB & Leslie, DL 2021, 'Medical Service Use and Charges for Cancer Care in 2018 for Privately Insured Patients Younger Than 65 Years in the US', JAMA network open, vol. 4, no. 10, 27784. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.27784
Najjar, YG, McCurry, D, Lin, H, Lin, Y, Zang, Y, Davar, D, Karunamurthy, A, Drabick, JJ, Neves, RI, Butterfield, LH, Ernstoff, MS, Puzanov, I, Skitzki, JJ, Bordeaux, J, Summit, ISB, Bender, JO, Kim, JY, Chen, B, Sarikonda, G, Pahuja, A, Tsau, J, Alfonso, Z, Laing, C, Pingpank, JF, Holtzman, MP, Sander, C, Rose, A, Zarour, HM, Kirkwood, JM & Tarhini, AA 2021, 'Neoadjuvant pembrolizumab and high-dose IFNa-2b in resectable regionally advanced melanoma', Clinical Cancer Research, vol. 27, no. 15, pp. 4195-4204. https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-4301
Gandhi, S, Pandey, MR, Attwood, K, Ji, W, Witkiewicz, AK, Knudsen, ES, Allen, C, Tario, JD, Wallace, PK, Cedeno, CD, Levis, M, Stack, S, Funchain, P, Drabick, JJ, Bucsek, MJ, Puzanov, I, Mohammadpour, H, Repasky, EA & Ernstoff, MS 2021, 'Phase I clinical trial of combination propranolol and pembrolizumab in locally advanced and metastatic melanoma: safety, tolerability, and preliminary evidence of antitumor activity', Clinical Cancer Research, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 87-95. https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-2381
Zakharia, Y, McWilliams, RR, Rixe, O, Drabick, J, Shaheen, MF, Grossmann, KF, Kolhe, R, Pacholczyk, R, Sadek, R, Tennant, LL, Smith, CM, Kennedy, EP, Link, CJ, Vahanian, NN, Yu, J, Shen, SS, Brincks, EL, Rossi, GR, Munn, D & Milhem, M 2021, 'Phase II trial of the IDO pathway inhibitor indoximod plus pembrolizumab for the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma', Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, vol. 9, no. 6, e002057. https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2020-002057
Tchelebi, LT, Batchelder, E, Wang, M, Lehrer, EJ, Drabick, JJ, Sharma, N, MacHtay, M, Trifiletti, DM & Zaorsky, NG 2021, 'Radiotherapy and Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibition for Solid Cancers (ROCKIT): A Meta-Analysis of 13 Studies', JNCI Cancer Spectrum, vol. 5, no. 4, pkab050. https://doi.org/10.1093/jncics/pkab050