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:Experimental Therapeutics
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)
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)
ShortStop-HER2: Shortened Duration of Adjuvant Therapy in Patients with Early-Stage HER2+ Breast Cancer Who Achieve pCR After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy with HER2 Blockade
A Phase III, multisite, randomized, double-blind trial of BNT327 in combination with chemotherapy versus placebo with chemotherapy in patients with previously untreated locally recurrent inoperable or metastatic TNBC determined ineligible for PD(L)1 therapy based on PD-L1 negative disease
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
A Phase 1b/2 Study Assessing the Safety and Efficacy of Evexomostat (SDX-7320) in Combination with a PI3K Pathway Inhibitor plus Fulvestrant in Postmenopausal Women with Advanced Breast Cancer and PI3K Pathway Alterations Who Have Progressed on or Following Endocrine Therapy plus a CDK4/6 Inhibitor
A Phase Ib/Phase II Multicenter, Open-Label, Randomized Study Evaluating The Safety, Pharmacokinetics and Activity of GDC-4198 Alone and In Combination with Giredestrant Compared with Abemaciclib in Combination with Giredestrant in Participants with Locally Advanced or Metastatic Hormone Receptor-Positive, HER2-Negative Breast Cancer
Recent Publications
2026
Matarneh, A, Sardar, S, Abendroth, C, Salvatore, S, Vasekar, M, Rosenbaum, E, Gutgarts, V, Ghahramani, N & Trivedi, N 2026, 'Cover Image', Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, vol. 21, no. 3. https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.0000000821
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