Nishant Agrawal, MD, specializes in the management of patients with benign and malignant tumors of the head and neck. Agrawal's work has achieved international recognition in the fields of head and neck surgical oncology and head and neck cancer genetics. Under his leadership, a team of researchers completed a landmark study that examined the genome of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. His group followed up by publishing the genomic landscapes of the remaining major head and neck cancers, including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, esophageal adenocarcinoma, medullary thyroid cancer, adenoid cystic carcinoma, and mucoepidermoid carcinoma. Agrawal then applied these findings to identify tumor DNA as a biomarker that improves cancer diagnostics in the saliva and plasma of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. His research is focused on the application of cancer genetics to design diagnostic approaches to reduce morbidity and mortality from head and neck cancer.
In addition to his clinical and research contributions, Agrawal is an accomplished educator, teaching medical students, residents and fellows about the management of patients with head and neck cancer. Prior to joining the University of Chicago Medicine, Agrawal was an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University.