Arpita Desai, MD

Assistant Clinical Professor

Dr. Arpita Desai is an oncologist who specializes in the treatment of patients with genitourinary cancers, in particular kidney and prostate cancers. She is the Medical Director of the GU Medical Oncology program at UCSF

Desai is interested in developing novel imaging and therapeutic strategies in renal cell cancer with the goal of improving outcomes by personalizing therapy. The scope of her most recent work has been related to incorporating functional and molecular imaging to personalize treatment in GU malignancies.

Desai completed her residency in internal medicine at the State University of New York where she also served as chief resident of internal medicine. She completed a fellowship in medical oncology at the University of Chicago. She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

Education
Fellowship, 2018 - Medical Oncology, University of Chicago
Residency, 2015 - Internal Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo
Honors and Awards
  • Prostate Cancer Program Pilot Research Award, Prostate Cancer Program UCSF, 2022
  • HDFCC UCSF Junior Clinical Investigator Award, UCSF, 2020
  • Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO/Frances A. Shepherd, MD, Endowed Merit Award, ASCO, 2018
  • Young Investigator Award, IASLC, 2018
  • Thomas F. Frawley Research Fellowship Award, SUNY at Buffalo, 2015
  • Dexter S. Levy Memorial Award, SUNY at Buffalo, 2014
Publications

  1. Shakhnazaryan N, Gima-Lange L, Desai A, Fitzgerald K, Kwon DH. Accuracy, readability, and quality of websites about metastatic renal cell carcinoma treatment. Urologic oncology 2024. PMID: 38955572


  2. Motzer RJ, Jonasch E, Agarwal N, Alva A, Bagshaw H, Baine M, Beckermann K, Carlo MI, Choueiri TK, Costello BA, Derweesh IH, Desai A, Ged Y, George S, Gore JL, Gunn A, Haas N, Johnson M, Kapur P, King J, Kyriakopoulos C, Lam ET, Lara PN, Lau C, Lewis B, Madoff DC, Manley B, Michaelson MD, Mortazavi A, Ponsky L, Ramalingam S, Shuch B, Smith ZL, Sosman J, Sweis R, Zibelman M, Schonfeld R, Stein M, Gurski LA. NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Kidney Cancer, Version 2.2024. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN 2024. PMID: 38394781


  3. Sweeney PL, Suri Y, Basu A, Koshkin VS, Desai A. Mechanisms of tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance in renal cell carcinoma. Science bulletin 2023. PMID: 38239394


  4. Aggarwal R, Starzinski S, de Kouchkovsky I, Koshkin V, Bose R, Chou J, Desai A, Kwon D, Kaushal S, Trihy L, Rastogi M, Ippisch R, Aslam M, Friedlander T, Feng F, Oh D, Cheung A, Small E, Evans M, Fong L, Hope TA. Single-dose 177Lu-PSMA-617 followed by maintenance pembrolizumab in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: an open-label, dose-expansion, phase 1 trial. The Lancet. Oncology 2023. PMID: 37922930


  5. Jindal T, Zhang L, Deshmukh P, Reyes K, Chan E, Kumar V, Zhu X, Maldonado E, Feng S, Johnson M, Angelidakis A, Kwon D, Desai A, Borno HT, Bose R, Wong A, Hong J, Carroll P, Meng M, Porten S, Aggarwal R, Small EJ, Fong L, Chou J, Friedlander T, de Kouchkovsky I, Koshkin VS. Impact of Squamous Histology on Clinical Outcomes and Molecular Profiling in Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma PatientsTreated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors or Enfortumab Vedotin. Clinical genitourinary cancer 2023. PMID: 37316414


  6. Jindal T, Zhu X, Bose R, Kumar V, Maldonado E, Deshmukh P, Shipp C, Feng S, Johnson MS, Angelidakis A, Kwon D, Borno HT, de Kouchkovsky I, Desai A, Aggarwal R, Fong L, Small EJ, Wong A, Porten S, Chou J, Friedlander T, Koshkin VS. Somatic alterations of TP53 and MDM2 associated with response to enfortumab vedotin in patients with advanced urothelial cancer. Frontiers in oncology 2023. PMID: 37091148


  7. Kwon DH, Shakhnazaryan N, Shui D, Hong JC, Mohamad O, de Kouchkovsky I, Borno HT, Bose R, Chou J, Desai A, Fong L, Friedlander TW, Koshkin VS, Aggarwal RR, Feng FY, Hope TA, Small EJ. Serial stereotactic body radiation therapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer detected by novel PET-based radiotracers. Urologic oncology 2022. PMID: 36435709


  8. Freeman MN, Jang A, Zhu J, Sanati F, Nandagopal L, Ravindranathan D, Desai A, Phone A, Nussenzveig R, Jaeger E, Caputo SA, Koshkin VS, Swami U, Basu A, Bilen MA, Agarwal N, Sartor O, Burgess EF, Barata PC. Multi-institutional Analysis of the Clinical and Genomic Characteristics of Black Patients with Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer. 2022. PMID: 35274720


  9. Natesan D, Zhang L, Martell HJ, Jindal T, Devine P, Stohr B, Espinosa-Mendez C, Grenert J, Van Ziffle J, Joseph N, Umetsu S, Onodera C, Turski M, Chan E, Desai A, Aggarwal R, Wong A, Porten S, Chou J, Friedlander T, Fong L, Small EJ, Sweet-Cordero A, Koshkin VS. APOBEC Mutational Signature and Tumor Mutational Burden as Predictors of Clinical Outcomes and Treatment Response in Patients With Advanced Urothelial Cancer. 2022. PMID: 35321431


  10. Motzer RJ, Jonasch E, Agarwal N, Alva A, Baine M, Beckermann K, Carlo MI, Choueiri TK, Costello BA, Derweesh IH, Desai A, Ged Y, George S, Gore JL, Haas N, Hancock SL, Kapur P, Kyriakopoulos C, Lam ET, Lara PN, Lau C, Lewis B, Madoff DC, Manley B, Michaelson MD, Mortazavi A, Nandagopal L, Plimack ER, Ponsky L, Ramalingam S, Shuch B, Smith ZL, Sosman J, Dwyer MA, Gurski LA, Motter A. Kidney Cancer, Version 3.2022, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology. 2022. PMID: 34991070


  11. Kwon DH, Karthikeyan S, Chang A, Borno HT, Koshkin VS, Desai A, Bose R, Friedlander T, Rodvelt T, Li P, Small EJ, Aggarwal RR, Belkora J. Mobile Audio Recording Technology to Promote Informed Decision Making in Advanced Prostate Cancer. 2021. PMID: 34932386


  12. de Kouchkovsky I, Zhang L, Philip EJ, Wright F, Kim DM, Natesan D, Kwon D, Ho H, Ho S, Chan E, Porten SP, Wong AC, Desai A, Huang FW, Chou J, Oh DY, Pruthi RS, Fong L, Small EJ, Friedlander TW, Koshkin VS. TERT promoter mutations and other prognostic factors in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma treated with an immune checkpoint inhibitor. Journal for immunotherapy of cancer 2021. PMID: 33980590


  13. Kwon DH, Chou J, Yip SM, Reimers MA, Zhang L, Wright F, Dhawan MS, Borno HT, Desai A, Aggarwal RR, Wyatt AW, Small EJ, Alva AS, Chi KN, Feng FY, Koshkin VS. Differential treatment outcomes in BRCA1/2-, CDK12-, and ATM-mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Cancer 2021. PMID: 33690902


  14. Borno HT, Kuo Lin T, Odisho AY, Desai A, Koshkin V, Werner K, Legaspi N, Bucknor M, Bell A, Zhang S, Hope TA. Evaluating determinants of receipt of molecular imaging in biochemical recurrent prostate cancer. Cancer medicine 2020. PMID: 33247633


  15. Barata P, Hatton W, Desai A, Koshkin V, Jaeger E, Manogue C, Cotogno P, Light M, Lewis B, Layton J, Sartor O, Basu A, Kilari D, Emamekhoo H, Bilen MA. Outcomes With First-Line PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitor Monotherapy for Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma (mRCC): A Multi-Institutional Cohort. Frontiers in oncology 2020. PMID: 33194712


  16. Motzer RJ, Jonasch E, Boyle S, Carlo MI, Manley B, Agarwal N, Alva A, Beckermann K, Choueiri TK, Costello BA, Derweesh IH, Desai A, George S, Gore JL, Haas N, Hancock SL, Kyriakopoulos C, Lam ET, Lau C, Lewis B, Madoff DC, McCreery B, Michaelson MD, Mortazavi A, Nandagopal L, Pierorazio PM, Plimack ER, Ponsky L, Ramalingam S, Shuch B, Smith ZL, Somer B, Sosman J, Dwyer MA, Motter AD. NCCN Guidelines Insights: Kidney Cancer, Version 1.2021. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN 2020. PMID: 32886895


  17. Desai A, Small EJ. Treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma patients with cabozantinib, an oral multityrosine kinase inhibitor of MET, AXL and VEGF receptors. Future oncology (London, England) 2019. PMID: 31184937