Monali Vasekar, MD - Penn State Cancer Institute
Researcher Profile
Monali Vasekar, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
Division of Hematology and Oncology
Division of Hematology and Oncology
Scientific Program:Next-Generation Therapies
Clinical Trials
EXActDNA-003: Breast Cancer Clinical Validation Study to Predict Recurrence of High-Risk Early Breast Cancer Treated with Neoadjuvant Therapy Using a Bespoke Circulating Tumor DNA Assay to Detect Molecular Residual Disease (NSABP B-64)
CCTG MA.39:Tailor RT: A Randomized Trial of Regional Radiotherapy in Biomarker Low Risk Node Positive and T3N0 Breast Cancer
A012103: OptimICE-PCR: De-Escalation of Therapy in Early-Stage TNBC Patients Who Achieve pCR After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy with Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy
NRG-BR009: A Phase III Adjuvant Trial Evaluating the Addition of Adjuvant Chemotherapy to Ovarian Function Suppression plus Endocrine Therapy in Premenopausal Patients with pN0-1, ER-Positive/HER2-Negative Breast Cancer and an Oncotype Recurrence Score (OFSET)
Shorter Anthracycline-Free Chemo Immunotherapy Adapted to Pathological Response in Early Triple Negative Breast Cancer (SCARLET), A Randomized Phase III Study
A Randomised, Open-Label, Phase III Study of Saruparib (AZD5305) Plus Camizestrant compared with Physician's Choice CDK4/6 Inhibitor Plus Endocrine Therapy or Plus Camizestrant for the First-Line Treatment of Patients with BRCA1, BRCA2, or PALB2 Mutations and Hormone Receptor-Positive, HER2-Negative (IHC 0, 1+, 2+/ ISH non-amplified) Advanced Breast Cancer (EvoPAR-Breast01)
NRG-CC015: HARNESSING E-MINDFULNESS APPROACHES FOR LIVING-AFTER BREAST CANCER---HEAL-ABC A Randomized Phase III Trial Testing the Efficacy of Remote Delivery of Mindfulness Awareness Practices in the NCORP; funding to Dr. Julienne Bower, MPI (contact) and Dr. Patricia Ganz, MPI at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Elacestrant versus Standard Endocrine Therapy in Women and Men with Node-positive, Estrogen Receptor-positive, HER2-negative, Early Breast Cancer with High Risk of Recurrence -A Global, Multicenter, Randomized, Open-label Phase 3 Study (ELEGANT)
Lotam: A Randomized, Phase III Clinical Trial Of Low-Dose Tamoxifen For Selected Patients With Molecular Low-Risk Early-Stage Breast Cancer
ShortStop-HER2: Shortened Duration of Adjuvant Therapy in Patients with Early-Stage HER2+ Breast Cancer Who Achieve pCR After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy with HER2 Blockade
An Open Label, Phase II Trial of Pre-operative Neratinib and Endocrine Therapy with Trastuzumab in Triple Positive Breast Cancers
A Phase II Study of Ribociclib and Endocrine Treatment of Physician's Choice for Locoregional Recurrent, Resected Hormone Receptor Positive HER2 Negative Breast Cancer (RaPhLRR Study) (HCRN-BRE20-468)
EXActDNA-003: Breast Cancer Clinical Validation Study to Predict Recurrence of High-Risk Early Breast Cancer Treated with Neoadjuvant Therapy Using a Bespoke Circulating Tumor DNA Assay to Detect Molecular Residual Disease (NSABP B-64)
Trial Access: Uncovering Barriers in Clinical Trials for Cancer Care in the Penn State Cancer Institute patient population survey feasibility study
Phase 1, open label clinical trial to treat Stage IV cancer patients with multiple patient-specific mutated cell surface proteins with chimeric antibodies
Recent Publications
2026
Iyengar, NM, O’Shaughnessy, JA, Moore, HN, Hamilton, E, Jhaveri, KL, Ma, CX, Tedesco, K, Vasekar, M, Donahue, S & Rugo, HS 2026, 'Optimizing clinical monitoring and management guidelines for capivasertib in HR-positive/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer: expert opinion', npj Breast Cancer, vol. 12, no. 1, 16. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41523-025-00864-2
2025
Rao, P, Segel, JE, Bingen, K, Devine, KA, Scott, AM, Koehly, LM, Verdery, AM, Rumbaugh, CL, Wasserman, E, Costigan, HJ, Dandekar, S, Rakszawski, K, Songdej, N, Blackall, GF, Vasekar, M, Naik, S, Lengerich, EJ & Van Scoy, LJ 2025, 'The impact of a personal cancer diagnosis on adolescent and young adult cancer survivors’ social connectedness: A qualitative analysis', Journal of Health Psychology, vol. 30, no. 9, pp. 2216-2231. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053241311977
2024
Labe, S, Jones, G, Dailey, H, Bhasker, J, Kanwar, R, Crago, M, Fitzgerald, B, Mikhail, D, Hafiz, S, Kramer, C, Zhu, J & Vasekar, M 2025, 'D-CRSE: Diminishing chemotherapy-related side effects through patient education, a mixed-methods pilot study', Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/07347332.2024.2345124
Priyadarshini, S, Petucci, J, Katoch, A, Honavar, V & Vasekar, MK 2024, 'Real world study of racial disparities associated with toxicities of sacituzumab govitecan', Journal of Clinical Oncology, vol. 42, no. 16, 1572. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2024.42.16_suppl.1572
2023
Gordon, BR, Qiu, L, Doerksen, SE, Kanski, B, Lorenzo, A, Truica, CI, Vasekar, M, Wang, M, Winkels, RM, Abdullah, S & Schmitz, KH 2023, 'Addressing metastatic individuals everyday: Rationale and design of the nurse AMIE for Amazon Echo Show trial among metastatic breast cancer patients', Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, vol. 32, 101058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conctc.2023.101058
Dailey, H, Labe, S, Jones, G, Bhasker, J, Kanwar, R, Hafiz, S, Crago, M, Fitzgerald, B, Mikhail, D, Zhu, J & Vasekar, M 2023, 'D-CRSE: Diminishing chemotherapy related side effects through patient education', Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, vol. 41, no. 16_suppl, e24148.
Julian, K & Vasekar, M 2023, 'Thoracic splenosis: an important consideration in oncology patients', BMJ case reports, vol. 16, no. 11, e257091. https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2023-257091
2022
Weng, X, Shen, C, Vasekar, M, Boltz, M, Joshi, M, Van Scoy, LJ & Wang, L 2023, 'Alzheimer's disease and related dementias is a risk factor for lower utilization of breast cancer screening and unstaged cancer diagnosis: Observational study from SEER-Medicare 2004–2016 data', Journal of Geriatric Oncology, vol. 14, no. 3, 101407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgo.2022.11.006