Pankita H. Pandya, PhD, MS

Dr. Pankita H. Pandya is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Pediatrics (Hematology-Oncology Division) at Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) and Riley Hospital for Children. She received her PhD in 2015 from IUSM. Her research initiatives are focused towards the development of novel, personalized therapies for aggressive pediatric solid tumors through precision medicine.  While advancements in pediatric cancer drug development and therapeutic interventions have been on the rise, the prognosis for pediatric patients at high risk for disease progression still remains dismal. Moreover, many questions focused on our understanding mechanisms of resistance in children with relapsed/recurrent cancer still remain unanswered. Therefore, Dr. Pandya's research objective is to identify and investigate novel biomarkers and drug combinations for optimizing therapeutic and clinical outcomes for pediatric patients with aggressive cancers.