RESEARCH SUMMARY

Andrea B. Apolo, M.D., is an internationally recognized expert in bladder cancer research. She was recruited to the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI’s) Physician-Scientist Early Investigator Program in 2010 to build a translational bladder cancer program. In 2014 she received the Lasker Clinical Research Scholars Award and in 2021 was awarded tenure at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

Dr. Apolo serves within the NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (CCR) as Head of the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch’s Bladder Cancer Section and Director of the Bladder Cancer and Genitourinary Tumors Multidisciplinary Clinic. She is dedicated to improving the treatment and survival of patients with bladder cancer and other genitourinary (GU) tumors. Her research involves designing clinical trials of novel therapies for bladder, kidney, and rare GU cancers. She has been instrumental in developing multiple immunotherapeutic agents and combinations, from first-in-human studies through phase 3 clinical trials. 

Dr. Apolo has been an investigator on more than 35 clinical trials, authored over 120 scientific papers or chapters which have been cited over 2,500 times, serves on multiple editorial boards, and has made over 100 scientific presentations at universities and national and international meetings. She has won the NIH Award of Merit (2011), the NCI Director’s Award for Clinical Science (2018), the Advancing Cancer Treatment Award (2018), the Arthur S. Flemming Award (2020), the NCI Director’s Award of Merit: Equity and Inclusion (2021), the NCI Director’s Award of Merit: Clinical Science (2021), the NCI Federal Technology Transfer Award (2022), and election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation. She is also chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium for 2025-2028.

Appointments:  For new patient referrals please contact the Medical Oncology Referral Office, at 240-760-6050 or nciinfo@mail.nih.gov.

Areas of Expertise