Aparna Kesarwala, MD, PhD

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Rating: 4.8 out of 5 (35 ratings)

Role

Radiation Oncology
Specialty

Lung Cancer
Research Program

Cell and Molecular Biology
Practicing Since

2013

Call 404-686-2391

Background

Aparna H. Kesarwala, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine. A board certified radiation oncologist, Dr. Kesarwala specializes in the treatment of thoracic malignancies, and treats patients at Winship Cancer Institute at Emory Midtown.

Prior to joining Emory, Dr. Kesarwala was an assistant research physician at the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Kesarwala earned her MD and her PhD in Molecular Cell Biology from Washington University School of Medicine. She completed an internship at Yale-New Haven Hospital and a radiation oncology residency at the National Cancer Institute/National Capital Consortium.

Titles & Roles

Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology

Emory University School of Medicine

Education & Training

Education

Residency, Radiation Oncology, 2013
National Cancer Institute
Fellowship, Radiation Oncology, 2013
National Cancer Institute
Internship, Internal Medicine, 2009
Yale New Haven Hospital
Medical Education, MD, 2008
Washington Univ School of Med
Medical Education, 2008
Washington University in St Louis

Board Certifications

Radiation Oncology
American Board of Radiology, 2015

Research

Dr. Kesarwala's research interests are at the interface among radiation biology and oncology, cancer cell metabolism, and molecular imaging.

View Current Clinical Trials


Testing the Addition of High Dose, Targeted Radiation to the Usual Treatment for Locally-Advanced Inoperable Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Phase III Conditions Locally Advanced Lung Non-Small Cell Carcinoma, Stage IIB Lung Cancer AJCC v8, Stage III Lung Cancer AJCC v8 Location Emory University Hospital Midtown, Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital, Emory Proton Therapy Center, Grady Health System, Winship Cancer Institute

Testing the Addition of High Dose, Targeted Radiation to the Usual Treatment for Locally-Advanced Inoperable Non-small Cell Lung Cancer
- Phase
  
  III
- Conditions
  
  Locally Advanced Lung Non-Small Cell Carcinoma, Stage IIB Lung Cancer AJCC v8, Stage III Lung Cancer AJCC v8
- Location
  
  Emory University Hospital Midtown, Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital, Emory Proton Therapy Center, Grady Health System, Winship Cancer Institute

Grants

View Grants

Grant Number	Title
1R21EB033994-01	Early-Stage Clinical Trial of AI-Driven CBCT-Guided Adaptive Radiotherapy for Lung Cancer
3R21EB033994-02S1	Early-Stage Clinical Trial of AI-Driven CBCT-Guided Adaptive Radiotherapy for Lung Cancer
5R21EB033994-02	Early-Stage Clinical Trial of AI-Driven CBCT-Guided Adaptive Radiotherapy for Lung Cancer

Publications

Title/Journal	Authors	Publication Date
Dosimetric comparison between laterality-specific and general knowledge-based planning models for nonsmall cell lung cancer. Medical dosimetry : official journal of the American Association of Medical Dosimetrists	J Seng, K Luca, J Roper, AH Kesarwala, S Momin	06/01/2025
Combination radiation and αPD-L1 enhance tumor control by stimulating CD8+ PD-1+ TCF-1+ T cells in the tumor-draining lymph node. Nature communications	Y Shen, E Connolly, M Aiello, C Zhou, P Chappa, H Song, P Tippitak, T Clark, M Cardenas, N Prokhnevska, A Mariniello, I De Bruyker, MS Pagadala, VR Dhere, S Rafiq, AH Kesarwala, A Orthwein, SN Thomas, SL Zhang, MK Khan, JB Dixon, GB Lesinski, MC Lowe, H Kissick, DS Yu, CM Paulos, NC Schmitt, ZS Buchwald	04/14/2025
Unsupervised Bayesian generation of synthetic CT from CBCT using patient-specific score-based prior. Medical physics	J Peng, Y Gao, CW Chang, R Qiu, T Wang, A Kesarwala, K Yang, J Scott, D Yu, X Yang	04/01/2025
A lung SBRT treatment planning technique to focus high dose on gross disease. Medical dosimetry : official journal of the American Association of Medical Dosimetrists	K Luca, AH Kesarwala, K Benner, S Tian, M Thomas, E Schreibmann, J Roper	03/01/2025
Lung SBRT: Dose gradient optimization based on target size. Medical dosimetry : official journal of the American Association of Medical Dosimetrists	K Benner, J Roper, AH Kesarwala, S Fehrs, E Schreibmann, K Luca	03/01/2025
Integrating knowledge-based planning and noncoplanar oblique VMAT arcs: A study of dose to the heart and immune cells in thoracic radiotherapy. Technical innovations & patient support in radiation oncology	B Diedrich, J Roper, B Hopkins, S Tian, S Momin, E Schreibmann, AH Kesarwala, K Luca	03/01/2025
Using a patient-specific diffusion model to generate CBCT-based synthetic CTs for CBCT-guided adaptive radiotherapy. Medical physics	X Chen, RLJ Qiu, T Wang, CW Chang, X Chen, JW Shelton, AH Kesarwala, X Yang	01/01/2025
Improving Lung Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Dose Conformity Using a Simple Noncoplanar Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy Technique. Practical radiation oncology	T Kei, K Luca, O Kayode, KA Higgins, JD Bradley, JW Shelton, AB Patel, X Yang, E Schreibmann, J Zhang, AH Kesarwala, J Roper	01/01/2025
Primary lung tumour stereotactic body radiotherapy followed by concurrent mediastinal chemoradiotherapy and adjuvant immunotherapy for locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 trial. The Lancet. Oncology	JH Heinzerling, KF Mileham, MM Robinson, JT Symanowski, RR Induru, GM Brouse, CD Corso, RS Prabhu, DE Haggstrom, BJ Moeller, WE Bobo, CE Fasola, VV Thakkar, SE Pal, JM Gregory, SL Norek, XJ Begic, AH Kesarwala, SH Burri, CB Simone	01/01/2025
CBCT-based synthetic CT image generation using a diffusion model for CBCT-guided lung radiotherapy. Medical physics	X Chen, RLJ Qiu, J Peng, JW Shelton, CW Chang, X Yang, AH Kesarwala	11/01/2024
Pre-operative stereotactic radiosurgery and peri-operative dexamethasone for resectable brain metastases: a two-arm pilot study evaluating clinical outcomes and immunological correlates. Nature communications	CS Jansen, MS Pagadala, MA Cardenas, RS Prabhu, S Goyal, C Zhou, P Chappa, BT Vo, C Ye, B Hopkins, J Zhong, A Klie, T Daniels, M Admassu, I Green, NT Pfister, SG Neill, JM Switchenko, N Prokhnevska, KB Hoang, MA Torres, S Logan, JJ Olson, EK Nduom, L Del Balzo, K Patel, SH Burri, AL Asher, S Wilkinson, R Lake, AH Kesarwala, KA Higgins, P Patel, V Dhere, AG Sowalsky, H Carter, MK Khan, H Kissick, ZS Buchwald	10/14/2024
Unsupervised Bayesian Generation of Synthetic CT from CBCT Using Patient-Specific Score-Based Prior. ArXiv	J Peng, Y Gao, CW Chang, R Qiu, T Wang, A Kesarwala, K Yang, J Scott, D Yu, X Yang	06/21/2024
Immune System Dose With Proton Versus Photon Radiotherapy for Treatment of Locally Advanced NSCLC. International journal of particle therapy	JS Patel, NS McCall, M Thomas, J Zhou, KA Higgins, JD Bradley, S Tian, MW McDonald, AH Kesarwala, WA Stokes	06/01/2024
Cardiac MRI segmentation using shifted-window multilayer perceptron mixer networks. Physics in medicine and biology	E Abouei, S Pan, M Hu, AH Kesarwala, RLJ Qiu, J Zhou, J Roper, X Yang	05/30/2024
Radiation and anti-PD-L1 synergize by stimulating a stem-like T cell population in the tumor-draining lymph node. Research square	Y Shen, E Connolly, M Aiello, C Zhou, P Chappa, H Song, P Tippitak, T Clark, M Cardenas, N Prokhnevska, A Mariniello, MS Pagadala, VR Dhere, S Rafiq, AH Kesarwala, A Orthwein, SN Thomas, MK Khan, J Brandon Dixon, GB Lesinski, MC Lowe, H Kissick, DS Yu, CM Paulos, NC Schmitt, ZS Buchwald	03/06/2024
Deformable lung 4DCT image registration via landmark-driven cycle network. Medical physics	L Matkovic, Y Lei, Y Fu, T Wang, AH Kesarwala, M Axente, J Roper, K Higgins, JD Bradley, T Liu, X Yang	03/01/2024
Metabolic modulation of melanoma enhances the therapeutic potential of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Frontiers in oncology	Z Gurel, MS Luy, Q Luo, NL Arp, AK Erbe, AH Kesarwala, J Fan, RJ Kimple	01/01/2024
Safety and efficacy of durvalumab after concurrent chemoradiation in Black patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Cancer	NS McCall, JR Janopaul-Naylor, HS McGinnis, AH Kesarwala, S Tian, WA Stokes, JW Shelton, CE Steuer, JW Carlisle, TA Leal, SS Ramalingam, JD Bradley, KA Higgins	12/01/2023
Treatment of Thymoma and Thymic Carcinoma with Proton Beam Therapy: Outcomes from the Proton Collaborative Group Prospective Registry. International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics	S Tian, A McCook, IJ Choi, CB Simone, CE Vargas, NY Yu, JHC Chang, SA Mihalcik, H Tsai, J Zeng, LR Rosen, ZH Rana, JJ Urbanic, WA Stokes, AH Kesarwala, JD Bradley, KA Higgins	10/01/2023
Deep learning-based fast volumetric imaging using kV and MV projection images for lung cancer radiotherapy: A feasibility study. Medical physics	Y Lei, Z Tian, T Wang, J Roper, H Xie, AH Kesarwala, K Higgins, JD Bradley, T Liu, X Yang	09/01/2023
The mitochondrial pyruvate carrier complex potentiates the efficacy of proteasome inhibitors in multiple myeloma. Blood advances	S Findlay, R Nair, RA Merrill, Z Kaiser, A Cajelot, Z Aryanpour, J Heath, C St-Louis, D Papadopoli, I Topisirovic, J St-Pierre, M Sebag, AH Kesarwala, L Hulea, EB Taylor, M Shanmugam, A Orthwein	07/25/2023
Automated lung tumor delineation on positron emission tomography/computed tomography via a hybrid regional network. Medical physics	Y Lei, T Wang, JJ Jeong, J Janopaul-Naylor, AH Kesarwala, J Roper, S Tian, JD Bradley, T Liu, K Higgins, X Yang	01/01/2023
Compact portable sources of high-LET radiation: Validation and potential application for galactic cosmic radiation countermeasure discovery. Life sciences in space research	NE Hertel, SR Biegalski, VI Nelson, WA Nelson, S Mukhopadhyay, Z Su, AM Chan, AH Kesarwala, WS Dynan	11/01/2022
Impact of radiation dose to the immune cells in unresectable or stage III non-small cell lung cancer in the durvalumab era. Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology	NS McCall, HS McGinnis, JR Janopaul-Naylor, AH Kesarwala, S Tian, WA Stokes, JW Shelton, CE Steuer, JW Carlisle, T Leal, SS Ramalingam, JD Bradley, KA Higgins	09/01/2022
Metabolic response to radiation therapy in cancer. Molecular carcinogenesis	GH Read, J Bailleul, E Vlashi, AH Kesarwala	02/01/2022
Race, Ethnicity, and Sex Among Senior Faculty in Radiation Oncology From 2000 to 2019. JAMA network open	JR Janopaul-Naylor, SE Roberts, HK Shu, AH Kesarwala, JY Lin, JM Switchenko, MA Torres	01/04/2022
Definitive intensity modulated proton re-irradiation for lung cancer in the immunotherapy era. Frontiers in oncology	JR Janopaul-Naylor, Y Cao, NS McCall, JM Switchenko, S Tian, H Chen, WA Stokes, AH Kesarwala, MW McDonald, JW Shelton, JD Bradley, KA Higgins	01/01/2022
Simple Esterification of [1-¹³C]-Alpha-Ketoglutarate Enhances Membrane Permeability and Allows for Noninvasive Tracing of Glutamate and Glutamine Production. ACS chemical biology	JE AbuSalim, K Yamamoto, N Miura, B Blackman, JR Brender, C Mushti, T Seki, KA Camphausen, RE Swenson, MC Krishna, AH Kesarwala	11/19/2021
Lung tumor segmentation in 4D CT images using motion convolutional neural networks. Medical physics	S Momin, Y Lei, Z Tian, T Wang, J Roper, AH Kesarwala, K Higgins, JD Bradley, T Liu, X Yang	11/01/2021
Synthesis of [1-¹³ C-5-¹² C]-alpha-ketoglutarate enables noninvasive detection of 2-hydroxyglutarate. NMR in biomedicine	N Miura, C Mushti, D Sail, JE AbuSalim, K Yamamoto, JR Brender, T Seki, DI AbuSalim, S Matsumoto, KA Camphausen, MC Krishna, RE Swenson, AH Kesarwala	11/01/2021
Deep learning-based thoracic CBCT correction with histogram matching. Biomedical physics & engineering express	RLJ Qiu, Y Lei, J Shelton, K Higgins, JD Bradley, WJ Curran, T Liu, AH Kesarwala, X Yang	10/29/2021
A Call to Action: Radiation Oncology Trials and Minority Enrollment. Practical radiation oncology	AH Kesarwala, KD Godette, JD Bradley	01/01/2021
Clonal Evolution and Heterogeneity of Osimertinib Acquired Resistance Mechanisms in EGFR Mutant Lung Cancer. Cell reports. Medicine	N Roper, AL Brown, JS Wei, S Pack, C Trindade, C Kim, O Restifo, S Gao, S Sindiri, F Mehrabadi, R El Meskini, ZW Ohler, TK Maity, A Venugopalan, CM Cultraro, E Akoth, E Padiernos, H Chen, A Kesarwala, DK Smart, N Nilubol, A Rajan, Z Piotrowska, L Xi, M Raffeld, AR Panchenko, C Sahinalp, S Hewitt, CD Hoang, J Khan, U Guha	04/21/2020
Pathways for Recruiting and Retaining Women and Underrepresented Minority Clinicians and Physician Scientists Into the Radiation Oncology Workforce: A Summary of the 2019 ASTRO/NCI Diversity Symposium Session at the ASTRO Annual Meeting. Advances in radiation oncology	G Suneja, MD Mattes, RB Mailhot Vega, FE Escorcia, C Lawton, J Greenberger, AH Kesarwala, A Spektor, B Vikram, C Deville, M Siker	01/01/2020

Ratings & Reviews

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4.8	One star One star One star One star One half star	Provider showed concern
4.7	One star One star One star One star One half star	Provider explained things clearly
4.8	One star One star One star One star One half star	Provider discussed treatment options
4.8	One star One star One star One star One half star	Provider included you in decisions
4.8	One star One star One star One star One half star	Likelihood of recommending this provider

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One star One star One star One star Empty star	06/13/2025	My radiologist was superb and I know exactly what she has planned. Thoracic not in.
One star One star One star One star One star	05/16/2025	I have the Best team of Dr. I love Dr. Kersawala. She is amazing.
One star One star One star One star One star	04/20/2025	Good
One star One star One star One star One star	03/26/2025	Will recommend any one I know to come to your facilities
One star One star One star One star One star	03/21/2025	Dr K l really like her! She takes her time answering any questions you have,sheShares the "pros& cons very great Personality
One star One star One star One star One star	06/01/2024	Very patient centric
One star One star One star One star One star	04/21/2024	Great experience with Dr. Rudra!
One star One star One star One star One star	03/14/2024	I'm thrilled about the practice of listening and understanding my concerns.
One star One star One star One star One star	01/13/2024	Dr K is great!!! I am so glad that she is on my care team. She's the best.
One star One star One star One star One star	10/20/2023	Dr. Kesarwala is the best!!! I'm happy to have her as my doctor.
One star One star One star One star One star	09/08/2023	Dr. Aparna Kesarwala was excellent. I feel very good having her be a part of my care team.