Azam Ghafoor, M.D.

Azam Ghafoor, M.D.
Assistant Research Physician
Thoracic and GI Malignancies Branch

Dr. Ghafoor's primary interests are immuno-oncology in thoracic malignancies, including mesothelioma and non-small cell lung cancer. His clinical research is focused on the use of anti-mesothelin therapies, including immunotoxins targeting mesothelin-expressing malignancies. His focus also includes optimizing immunotherapy (e.g., immunecheckpoint inhibitors) for lung cancer patients using combination-based approaches to overcome and delay resistance of the immune system to recognize and attack tumors.

Areas of Expertise

1) mesothelioma, 2) lung cancer, 3) immunotoxin, 4) immunotherapy, 5) mesothelin

Contact Info

Azam Ghafoor, M.D.
Center for Cancer Research
National Cancer Institute
Building 10, Room 4-5330 G
Bethesda, MD 20892
Ph: 240-858-3289
azam.ghafoor@nih.gov

Dr. Ghafoor is a thoracic and immuno-oncologist. His clinical and translational research focuses on investigating the clinical use of immunotoxin therapy and immunotherapy in thoracic malignancies such as mesothelioma and non-small cell lung cancers. His work also involves developing novel immunotherapy-based combinations for improving responses and outcomes for patients with lung cancer using different immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors.

NIH Scientific Focus Areas:
Cancer Biology, Clinical Research, Immunology, Molecular Pharmacology

Selected Key Publications

  1. Orbital metastases from malignant mesothelioma.
    Idrees Mian, Emerson Padiernos, Raffit Hassan, Azam Ghafoor.
    Lancet Oncology. 21(2): 117, 2020. [ Journal Article ]
  2. Targeting mesothelin in ovarian cancer.
    Azam Ghafoor, Anish Thomas, and Raffit Hassan
    Oncotarget. 9(90): 36050–36051, 2018. [ Journal Article ]
  3. Phase II study of olaparib in malignant mesothelioma (MM) to correlate efficacy with germline and somatic mutations in DNA repair genes..
    Raffit Hassan, Idrees Mian, Cathy Wagner, Yvonne Mallory, Maria Agra, Emerson Padiernos, Manjistha Sengupta, Betsy Morrow, Jun S. Wei, Anish Thomas, Seth M. Steinberg, Javed Khan, Azam Ghafoor.
    Submitted Abstract ASCO . 2020.
  4. Enhanced efficacy of mesothelin-targeted immunotoxin LMB-100 and anti–PD-1 antibody in patients with mesothelioma and mouse tumor models.
    Qun Jiang*, Azam Ghafoor* (*equal contribution) , Idrees Mian, Daniel Rathkey, Anish Thomas, Christine Alewine, Manjistha Sengupta, Mark A. Ahlman, Jingli Zhang, Betsy Morrow, Seth M. Steinberg, Ira Pastan, Raffit Hassan
    Science Translational Medicine. 12/550: 2020. [ Journal Article ]
  5. Aberrant Levels of miRNAs in Bone Marrow Microenvironment and Peripheral Blood of Myeloma Patients and Disease Progression.
    Wang W, Corrigan-Cummins M, Barber EA, Saleh LM, Zingone A, Ghafoor A, Costello R, Zhang Y, Kurlander RJ, Korde N, Roccaro AM, Ghobrial IM, Landgren O, Calvo KR.
    Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. 17(6): 669-78, 2015. [ Journal Article ]

Dr. Ghafoor graduated from Purdue University with distinction in 2007, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology (West Lafayette, IN). He was awarded a cancer research training award (CRTA) at the NIH in 2007 (Bethesda, MD). He then received a M.D. from Indiana University School of Medicine (Indianapolis, IN) in 2013. Following graduation in 2016 from an internal medicine residency at St. Vincent Hospital (Indianapolis, IN) he completed his medical oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in 2018 (Bethesda, MD).  He joined the Thoracic and GI Malignancies Branch as an Assistant Research Physician.

Dr. Ghafoor is board certified in internal medicine and board-eligible in oncology. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society. He has received a Yale University Science and Engineering Award.

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