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Todd Aguilera, M.D.,  Ph.D.

Todd Aguilera, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

School
Medical School
Department
Radiation Oncology
Graduate Programs
Cancer Biology, Immunology

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For more information on the doctor and patient care, please visit the clinical profile.

  • Biography

    Download Curriculum Vitae

    Dr. Aguilera is a physician-scientist trained as a radiation oncologist with expertise in molecular engineering, molecular imaging, the tumor microenvironment, and tumor immunology. He completed the Medical Scientist Training Program in 2011 at the University of California San Diego. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2009 in Dr. Roger Y. Tsien's laboratory, who received the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. His graduate work focused engineering and validating activatable peptide based probes to target the tumor microenvironment. Molecules that stemmed from his work are currently being tested in clinical trials for fluorescence guided surgery of breast cancer.

    After an internal medicine internship in San Diego, he joined the Radiation Oncology Residency program at Stanford University. He worked with Dr. Amato Giaccia as a resident and postdoctoral fellow studying factors in the tumor microenvironment that promote immunologic tolerance and developing therapeutic approaches to improve immunotherapy responses in solid tumors. More specifically, he is interested is intrinsic factors that prevent/suppress the anti-tumor immune response after radiation and how these factors can be reversed. 

    Dr. Aguilera was recruited to the department of Radiation Oncology to establish his research group who will continue investigate the immune microenvironment and engineer approaches to target cells and molecules that lead to immune privilege. He treats radiation oncology patients with gastrointestinal cancers, is developing laboratory projects in pancreatic cancer, and aims to establish collaborative projects with clinicians and researchers.

  • Education
    Other Post Graduate Training
    UC San Diego School of Medicine (2007)
    Graduate School
    UC San Diego School of Medicine (2007)
    Medical School
    UC San Diego School of Medicine (2011)
    Internship
    UC San Diego Medical Center (2012), Internal Medicine
    Residency
    Stanford University Medical Center (2016), Radiation Oncology
    Fellowship
    Stanford University Medical Center (2017), Gastrointestinal Radiation Oncology
  • Publications
    ASO Visual Abstract: Delta Radiomic Features Predict Resection Margin Status and Overall Survival in Neoadjuvant-Treated Pancreatic Cancer Patients
    Wang K, Karalis JD, Elamir A, Bifolco A, Wachsmann M, Capretti G, Spaggiari P, Enrico S, Balasubramanian K, Fatimah N, Pontecorvi G, Nebbia M, Yopp A, Kaza R, Pedrosa I, Zeh H, Polanco P, Zerbi A, Wang J, Aguilera T, Ligorio M Annals of Surgical Oncology 2024 Apr 31 2664-2665
    Delta Radiomic Features Predict Resection Margin Status and Overall Survival in Neoadjuvant-Treated Pancreatic Cancer Patients
    Wang K, Karalis JD, Elamir A, Bifolco A, Wachsmann M, Capretti G, Spaggiari P, Enrico S, Balasubramanian K, Fatimah N, Pontecorvi G, Nebbia M, Yopp A, Kaza R, Pedrosa I, Zeh H, Polanco P, Zerbi A, Wang J, Aguilera T, Ligorio M Annals of Surgical Oncology 2024 Apr 31 2608-2620
    AXL/WRNIP1 Mediates Replication Stress Response and Promotes Therapy Resistance and Metachronous Metastasis in HER2+ Breast Cancer
    Marquez-Palencia M, Herrera LR, Parida PK, Ghosh S, Kim K, Das NM, Gonzalez-Ericsson PI, Sanders ME, Mobley BC, Diegeler S, Aguilera TA, Peng Y, Lewis CM, Arteaga CL, Hanker AB, Whitehurst AW, Lorens JB, Brekken RA, Davis AJ, Malladi S Cancer research 2024 Mar 84 675-687
    Stereotactic body radiotherapy plus rucosopasem in locally advanced or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer: GRECO-2 phase II study design
    Hoffe SE, Aguilera TA, Parikh PJ, Ghaly MM, Herman JM, Caster JM, Kim DW, Costello J, Malafa MP, Moser EC, Kennedy EP, Terry K, Kurman M Future Oncology 2024 20 437-446
    Stereotactic body radiotherapy with or without selective dismutase mimetic in pancreatic adenocarcinoma: an adaptive, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1b/2 trial
    Taniguchi CM, Frakes JM, Aguilera TA, Palta M, Czito B, Bhutani MS, Colbert LE, Abi Jaoude J, Bernard V, Pant S, Tzeng CW, Kim DW, Malafa M, Costello J, Mathew G, Rebueno N, Koay EJ, Das P, Ludmir EB, Katz MH, Wolff RA, Beddar S, Sawakuchi GO, Moningi S, Slack Tidwell RS, Yuan Y, Thall PF, Beardsley RA, Holmlund J, Herman JM, Hoffe SE The Lancet Oncology 2023 Dec 24 1387-1398
    Simultaneous selection of nanobodies for accessible epitopes on immune cells in the tumor microenvironment
    Sekar TV, Elghonaimy EA, Swancutt KL, Diegeler S, Gonzalez I, Hamilton C, Leung PQ, Meiler J, Martina CE, Whitney M, Aguilera TA Nature communications 2023 Dec 14
    Local Control Following Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Liver Oligometastases: Lessons from a Quarter Century
    Mheid S, Allen S, Ng SS, Hall WA, Sanford NN, Aguilera TA, Elamir AM, Bahij R, Intven MP, Radhakrishna G, Mohamad I, De Leon J, Tan H, Lewis S, Gani C, Stanecu T, Dell’Acqua V, Hosni A Current Oncology 2023 Oct 30 9230-9243
    Ablative Radiation Therapy in Oligometastatic Pancreatic Cancer to Delay Polyprogression, Limit Chemotherapy, and Improve Outcomes
    Elamir AM, Karalis JD, Sanford NN, Polanco PM, Folkert MR, Porembka MR, Kazmi SA, Maddipati R, Zeh HJ, Timmerman RD, Zhang S, Ligorio M, Beg MS, Aguilera TA International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics 2022 Nov 114 792-802
    Personalized Ultrafractionated Stereotactic Adaptive Radiotherapy (PULSAR) in Preclinical Models Enhances Single-Agent Immune Checkpoint Blockade
    Moore C, Hsu CC, Chen WM, Chen BP, Han C, Story M, Aguilera T, Pop LM, Hannan R, Fu YX, Saha D, Timmerman R International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics 2021 Aug 110 1306-1316
    Disparities in characteristics, access to care, and oncologic outcomes in young-onset colorectal cancer at a safety-net hospital
    Fangman BD, Goksu SY, Chowattukunnel N, Beg MS, Sanford NN, Sanjeevaiah A, Cox J, Folkert MR, Aguilera TA, Mathews J, Pogacnik JS, Khatri G, Olson C, Polanco PM, Verma U, Hsiehchen D, Jones A, Kainthla R, Kazmi SM JCO Oncology Practice 2021 May 17 E614-E622
  • Honors & Awards
    • Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Research Award
      (2020-2023)
    • Shelby Family Pancreatic Cancer Research Foundation Award
      (2019-2021)
    • UT Southwestern Presidents Research Council: Distinguished Researcher Award
      (2018-2019)
    • CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research
      (2017-2021)
    • Henry S. Kaplan Fellow
      Stanford Department or Radiation Oncology (2016-2017)
    • American Board of Radiology Holman Research Resident
      (2014-2016)
    • ASTRO Resident Seed Grant
      (2014-2015)
  • Professional Associations/Affiliations
    • America Association for Cancer Research (2012-2017)
    • American Scociety of Clinical Oncology (2013-2017)
    • American Society for Radiation Oncology (2011-2017)
    • Radiological Society of North America (2011-2017)
    • Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (2015-2017)