Andrea B. Apolo is an American medical oncologist specialized in

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in the bladder. These cells can grow to form a tumor, which eventually spreads, damaging the bladder and other organs. Most people with bladder cancer are diagnosed after noticing blood in thei ...

research. She is an investigator in the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

genitourinary The genitourinary system, or urogenital system, are the sex organs of the reproductive system and the organs of the urinary system. These are grouped together because of their proximity to each other, their common embryological origin and the us ...

malignancies branch and head of the bladder cancer section.

Education

Apolo graduated

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from

Lehman College Lehman College is a public college in New York City, United States. Founded in 1931 as the Bronx campus of Hunter College, it became an independent college in 1967. The college is named after Herbert H. Lehman, a former New York governor, United ...

with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and biochemistry. She earned her medical degree at

Albert Einstein College of Medicine The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a Private university, private medical school in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein is an independent degree-granting institution within the Montefiore Einstein Health System. Einstein hosts Doc ...

. Apolo completed residency training in

internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

New York-Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (abbreviated as NYP) is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City. It is the primary teaching hospital for Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The hospit ...

and then completed a medical oncology fellowship at

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in Manhattan in New York City. MSKCC is one of 72 National Cancer Institute– designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Its main campus is ...

Career

In 2010, she was recruited to the

’s (NCI)

Physician-Scientist A physician-scientist (in North American English) or clinician-scientist (in British English and Australian English) is a physician who divides their professional time between direct clinical practice with patients and scientific research. Physicia ...

Early Investigator Program to build a translational bladder cancer program. Apolo serves within the Center for Cancer Research of the National Cancer Institute as Head of the

Bladder Cancer Bladder cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in the bladder. These cells can grow to form a tumor, which eventually spreads, damaging the bladder and other organs. Most people with bladder cancer are diagnosed after noticing blood in thei ...

Section of the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch and Director of the Bladder Cancer and Genitourinary Tumors Multidisciplinary Clinic. Apolo serves on national and

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

committees. She has been an investigator on over 35

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human subject research, human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel v ...

s and authored more than 80 scientific papers or chapters which have been cited over 1,800 times. She serves on a number of editorial boards, and has made over 100 scientific presentations at universities and national/international meetings.

Research

Apolo designs and implements clinical trials to test novel agents for the treatment of

urologic Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and ''-logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary system and the reproductive organs. Org ...

cancers. Her research focuses on developing targeted therapies for bladder cancer and rare genitourinary tumors, including

immunotherapies Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as ''activation immunotherapies,'' while immunotherap ...

angiogenesis inhibitor An angiogenesis inhibitor is a substance that inhibits the growth of new blood vessels (angiogenesis). Some angiogenesis inhibitors are endogenous and a normal part of the body's control and others are obtained exogenously through pharmaceutical ...

s, and agents that target MET, and in identifying molecular alterations that will serve as targets for individualized treatment strategies. Apolo manages

clinical development Drug development is the process of bringing a new pharmaceutical drug to the market once a lead compound has been identified through the process of drug discovery. It includes preclinical research on microorganisms and animals, filing for regul ...

of immunotherapeutic agents and immunotherapeutic combinations in cancer and genitourinary tumors. She led the bladder cancer study of avelumab that resulted in

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

approval in advanced bladder cancer.

Awards and honors

Apolo received a 2011 National Institutes of Health Award of Merit, the 2014 Lasker Clinical Research Scholars Program Award, the 2018 National Cancer Institute's Director's Award for Clinical Science, the 2018 Advancing Cancer Treatment Award for leadership in genitourinary clinical trial patient access, and the 2020 Arthur S. Flemming Award for leaders who make an impact in public service. She was also recognized as one of the 100 Influential Women in Oncology by OncoDaily.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Apolo, Andrea Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) American medical researchers American women medical researchers Lehman College alumni Albert Einstein College of Medicine alumni National Institutes of Health people 21st-century American women scientists 21st-century American women physicians 21st-century American physicians 21st-century American biologists American women biologists American oncologists American women oncologists 21st-century American women civil servants