Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery
I am a complex cranial neurosurgeon specializing in skull base lesions, brain tumors, and cerebrovascular disease. I have a passion for surgical excellence, a collaborative team-based clinical approach to patient care, and cutting-edge research, both at the bench and at bedside.
As one of the co-founders of our Brain and Spine Tumor Program, I work closely with the entire multi-disciplinary program to provide the most appropriate care for each patient with attention to each individual’s case. For example, targeted therapies, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or radiation therapy can be just as important as the surgery.
Surgeons are also the cornerstone of a brain tumor research program where we can participate in clinical trials, in active translational research, and in basic science. During my neurosurgical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, I worked on an immunotherapy trial for glioblastoma and performed research on the genomics of skull base tumors at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute with NIH R25 funding.
My current research focus is three-fold: 1. Establishing access and developing clinical trials for skull base tumors. 2. Functional genomics of brain tumors especially mechanisms of tumorigenesis in schwannoma and meningioma. 3. Understanding the role of adenosine and cancer, particularly for glioma.
I received my undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University. After residency at MGH, I completed the prestigious fellowship in skull base and cerebrovascular neurosurgery at the University of South Florida.
I see patients primarily at St. Barnabas in Livingston and at University Hospital in Newark.
Research Interests:
- Clinical trials in neurosurgery
- Genomics of skull base tumors
- NF2 biology and schwannoma tumorigenesis
- Glioma biology and immunotherapy
- Role of adenosine in cancer
- Patient-derived cancer models
Publication Highlights:
- Agarwalla PK, Barnard ZR, Fecci PE, Dranoff G, Curry WT. “Sequential immunotherapy by vaccination with GM-CSF-expressing glioma cells and CTLA-4 blockade effectively treats established murine intracranial tumors.” Journal of Immunotherapy. 2012 Jun. 35(5):385-9. PMID: 22576343.
- Curry WT, Gorrepati R, Piesche M, Sasada T, Agarwalla PK, Jones PS, Gerstner ER, Golby AJ, Batchelor TT, Wen PY, Mihm MC, Dranoff G. “Vaccination with irradiated autologous tumor cells mixed with irradiated GM-K562 cells stimulates antitumor immunity and T-lymphocyte activation in patients with recurrent malignant glioma.” Clinical Cancer Research. 2016. June 15. 22(12):2885-96. PMID: 26873960.
- Agnihotri S, Jalali S, Wilson MR, Danesh A, Li M, Klironomos G, Krieger JR, Mansouri A, Khan O, Mamatjan Y, Landon-Brace N, Tung T, Dowar M, Li T, Bruce JP, Burrell KE, Tonge PD, Alamsahebpour A, Krischek B, Agarwalla PK, Bi WL, Dunn IF, Beroukhim R, Fehlings MG, Bril V, Pagnotta SM, Iavarone A, Pugh TJ, Aldape KD, Zadeh G. “The genomic landscape of schwannoma.” Nature Genetics. 2016. Nov. 48(11):1339-1348. PMID: 27723760.
- Bi WL, Greenwald NF, Abedalthagafi M, Wala JA, Gibson WJ, Agarwalla PK, Horowitz P, Schumacher SE, Esaulova E, Mei Y, Chevalier A, Ducar M, Thorner AR, van Hummelen P, Stemmer-Rachamimov AO, Artyomov M, Al-Mefty O, Dunn GP, Santagata S, Dunn IF, Beroukhim R. “Genomic landscape of high-grade meningioma.” NPJ Genomic Medicine. 2017. Apr. PMID: 28713588.