AmarJGajjarMD

Pediatric Hematology & Oncology • Memphis, TN

Pediatric Neuro-Oncology

Chair/Member, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

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Office
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
262 Danny Thomas Place
Memphis, TN 38105
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Summary

Dr. Amar Gajjar currently serves as Chair of the Department of Pediatric Medicine, Full Member, and co-leader of the Neurobiology and Brain Tumor Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. In 2007, he was named Scott and Tracie Hamilton Endowed Chair in Neuro-Oncology.

He is principal or co-principal investigator of several innovative clinical trials addressing a variety of brain tumors, with special emphasis on medulloblastoma. He has been instrumental in the growth of the Neuro-Oncology Program at St. Jude and developed international collaborations with leading brain tumor programs in Germany, UK, Australia, Canada, and the United States. He has served on the Editorial Board of Neuro-Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and serves as an ad hoc reviewer for many scientific journals. He has mentored numerous fellows in neuro-oncology who are scattered around the globe.

Incorporating biomarkers into clinical trial design

Dr. Gajjar speaks with ecancer at the Cancer Research UK Brain Tumor Conference in London, 2018.

Education & Training

University of Tennessee/St. Jude Children's Research HospitalFellowship, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Division of Neuro-Oncology, 1989 - 1993
University of South Florida MorsaniChief Residency, Pediatrics, 1988 - 1989
University of South Florida MorsaniResidency, Pediatrics, 1986 - 1988
Grant Medical CollegeClass of 1984
Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Group of HospitalsMBBS, 1982

Certifications & Licensure

TN State Medical License 1989 - 2024
OK State Medical License 1985 - 1991
American Board of Pediatrics Pediatric Hematology-Oncology

Awards, Honors, & Recognition

America's Top Doctors Castle Connolly, 2009-2014
Memphis Magazine: Top Doctors Castle Connolly, 2008-2009, 2014
America's Top Doctors for Cancer Castle Connolly, 2006-2013

Clinical Trials

Risk-Adapted Therapy for Young Children With Embryonal Brain Tumors, Choroid Plexus Carcinoma, High Grade Glioma or Ependymoma Start of enrollment: 2007 Dec 17
Active, not recruiting
Phase 2
Chemotherapy Followed by Radiation Therapy in Treating Younger Patients With Newly Diagnosed Localized Central Nervous System Germ Cell Tumors Start of enrollment: 2012 Jun 27
Active, not recruiting
Phase 2
A Clinical and Molecular Risk-Directed Therapy for Newly Diagnosed Medulloblastoma Start of enrollment: 2013 Jun 23
Active, not recruiting
Phase 2
Adavosertib and Local Radiation Therapy in Treating Children With Newly Diagnosed Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomas Start of enrollment: 2013 Sep 03
Completed
Phase 1
Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Younger Patients With Newly Diagnosed, Non-metastatic Desmoplastic Medulloblastoma Start of enrollment: 2013 Dec 24
Completed
Phase 2
Phase 2 Study of Alisertib Therapy for Rhabdoid Tumors Start of enrollment: 2014 May 14
Active, not recruiting
Phase 2
Selinexor in Treating Younger Patients With Recurrent or Refractory Solid Tumors or High-Grade Gliomas Start of enrollment: 2015 Oct 30
Active, not recruiting
Phase 1
Reduced Craniospinal Radiation Therapy and Chemotherapy in Treating Younger Patients With Newly Diagnosed WNT-Driven Medulloblastoma Start of enrollment: 2017 Nov 17
Active, not recruiting
Phase 2
Fimepinostat in Treating Brain Tumors in Children and Young Adults Start of enrollment: 2019 Aug 07
Active, not recruiting
Early Phase 1
Roles: Contact
BGB-290 and Temozolomide in Treating Isocitrate Dehydrogenase (IDH)1/2-Mutant Grade I-IV Gliomas Start of enrollment: 2019 Apr 03
Recruiting
Phase 1
Roles: Contact, Principal Investigator
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Publications & Presentations

PubMed

Secondary cerebro-cerebellar and intracerebellar dysfunction in cerebellar mutism syndrome.
Samuel S McAfee, Nicholas S Phillips, Silu Zhang, Ping Zou Stinnett, Ranganatha Sitaram, Darcy Raches, Heather M Conklin, Matthew A Scoggins, Giles Robinson, Amar Gajj...> ;Neuro-Oncology. 2024 Apr 6
Vorinostat, temozolomide or bevacizumab with irradiation and maintenance BEV/TMZ in pediatric high-grade glioma: A Children's Oncology Group Study.
Rishi R Lulla, Allen Buxton, Mark D Krailo, Margot A Lazow, Daniel R Boue, James L Leach, Tong Lin, James I Geller, Shiva Senthil Kumar, Marina N Nikiforova, Uma Chand...> ;Neuro-Oncology Advances. 2024 Mar 14
Comprehensive analysis of MYB/MYBL1-altered pediatric-type diffuse low-grade glioma.
Daniel C Moreira, Ibrahim Qaddoumi, Susan Spiller, Thomas W Bouldin, Alan Davidson, Nasjla Saba-Silva, Daniel V Sullivan, Ryuma Tanaka, Aaron S Wagner, Matthew Wood, P...> ;Neuro-Oncology. 2024 Mar 11
3 citations
High-grade glioma in infants and young children is histologically, molecularly, and clinically diverse: Results from the SJYC07 trial and institutional experience.
Chiang, J., Bagchi, A., Li, X., Dhanda, S., Huang, J., Pinto, S., Sioson, E., Dalton, J., Tatevossian, R., Jia, S., Partap, S., Fisher, P., Bowers, D., Hassall, T., Lu...> ;Neuro-Oncology. 2024 Jan 5
Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer: CNS Tumors.
Heidelberg, R., Wu, J., Gajjar, A.> ;Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2024 Feb 20
1 citations
Population pharmacokinetics of methotrexate and 7-hydroxymethotrexate and delayed excretion in infants and young children with brain tumors.
Campagne, O., Huang, J., Lin, T., Reddick, W., Selvo, N., Onar-Thomas, A., Ward, D., Stewart, C., Robinson, G., Gajjar, A.> ;European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2024 Feb 1
Application of the Rotterdam postoperative cerebellar mutism syndrome prediction model in patients undergoing surgery for medulloblastoma in a single institution.
Savannah Bush, Paul Klimo, Arzu Onar-Thomas, Jie Huang, Frederick A Boop, Amar Gajjar, Giles W Robinson, Raja B Khan> ;Journal of Neurosurgery. Pediatrics. 2024 Feb 1
1 citations
Social participation of school-aged survivors of pediatric brain tumors: A daily diary report.
Mollie Tamboli, Bethany Means, Niki Jurbergs, Heather M Conklin, Amar Gajjar, Victoria W Willard> ;Pediatric Blood & Cancer. 2024 Feb 1
1 citations
Verschlimmbesserung: Craniospinal Radiotherapy Is Essential in WNT Medulloblastoma Patients.
Nicholas G Gottardo, Amar Gajjar> ;Clinical Cancer Research. 2023 Dec 15
Topotecan clearance based on a single sample and a population pharmacokinetic model: Application to a pediatric high-risk neuroblastoma clinical trial.
Olivia Campagne, Huiyun Wu, Jianrong Wu, Arlene Naranjo, Vinay M Daryani, Amar J Gajjar, Julie R Park, Clinton F Stewart> ;Pediatric Blood & Cancer. 2023 Nov 1
6 citations
Nivolumab with or without ipilimumab in pediatric patients with high-grade CNS malignancies: Safety, efficacy, biomarker, and pharmacokinetics-CheckMate 908.
Dunkel, I., Doz, F., Foreman, N., Hargrave, D., Lassaletta, A., André, N., Hansford, J., Hassall, T., Eyrich, M., Gururangan, S., Bartels, U., Gajjar, A., Howell, L., ...> ;Neuro-Oncology. 2023 Aug 3
DNA-methylation subgroups carry no prognostic significance in ATRT-SHH patients in clinical trial cohorts.
Quynh T Tran, Santhosh A Upadhyaya, Catherine A Billups, Arzu Onar-Thomas, Md Zahangir Alom, Steven S Carey, Giles W Robinson, David W Ellison, Amar Gajjar, Brent A Orr> ;Acta Neuropathologica. 2023 Sep 1
2 citations
Cerebellar mutism is linked to midbrain volatility and desynchronization from speech cortices.
Samuel S McAfee, Giles Robinson, Amar Gajjar, Silu Zhang, Asim K Bag, Darcy Raches, Heather M Conklin, Raja B Khan, Matthew A Scoggins> ;Brain. 2023 Nov 2
1 citations
Social cognition and adjustment in adult survivors of pediatric central nervous system tumors.
Chiara Papini, Victoria W Willard, Amar Gajjar, Thomas E Merchant, Deokumar Srivastava, Gregory T Armstrong, Melissa M Hudson, Kevin R Krull, Tara M Brinkman> ;Cancer. 2023 Oct 1
2 citations
Phase II Randomized Trial of Lenalidomide in Children With Pilocytic Astrocytomas and Optic Pathway Gliomas: A Report From the Children's Oncology Group.
Katherine E Warren, Gilbert Vezina, Mark Krailo, Linda Springer, Allen Buxton, Cody J Peer, William D Figg, Chris William-Hughes, Sandy Kessel, Maryam Fouladi, Amar Ga...> ;Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2023 Jun 20
1 citations
Genetic susceptibility to cognitive decline following craniospinal irradiation for pediatric central nervous system tumors.
Austin L Brown, Pagna Sok, Kimberly P Raghubar, Philip J Lupo, Melissa A Richard, Alanna C Morrison, Jun J Yang, Clinton F Stewart, Mehmet Fatih Okcu, Murali M Chintag...> ;Neuro-Oncology. 2023 Sep 5
7 citations
Outcomes of Infants and Young Children With Relapsed Medulloblastoma After Initial Craniospinal Irradiation-Sparing Approaches: An International Cohort Study.
Craig Erker, Martin Mynarek, Simon Bailey, Claire M Mazewski, Lorena Baroni, Maura Massimino, Juliette Hukin, Dolly Aguilera, Andrea M Cappellano, Vijay Ramaswamy, Alv...> ;Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2023 Apr 1
2 citations
Tackling Pediatric Low-Grade Gliomas: A Global Perspective.
Daniel C Moreira, Catherine G Lam, Nickhill Bhakta, Frederick A Boop, Jason Chiang, Thomas E Merchant, Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo, Amar Gajjar, Ibrahim Qaddoumi> ;JCO Global Oncology. 2023 Apr 1
1 citations
Hypogonadism After Treatment for Medulloblastoma: Results From the SJMB03 Trial of Risk-Adapted Radiation Therapy.
Thomas E Merchant, Shengjie Wu, Arzu Onar-Thomas, Amar Gajjar, Angela Delaney> ;International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics. 2023 Jul 1
Endocrinopathy After Treatment for Medulloblastoma: Results From the SJMB03 Trial of Risk-Adapted Radiation Therapy.
Thomas E Merchant, Shengjie Wu, Arzu Onar-Thomas, Angela Delaney, Amar Gajjar> ;International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics. 2023 Jul 1
3 citations
Pediatric Central Nervous System Cancers, Version 2.2023, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology.
Franson, A. (., Franson, A. (., Franson, A. (., Amar Gajjar, Anita Mahajan, Mohamed Abdelbaki, Clarke Anderson, Reuben Antony, Tejus Bale, Ranjit Bindra, Daniel C Bowe...> ;Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. 2022 Dec 1
35 citations
Entrectinib in children and young adults with solid or primary CNS tumors harboring NTRK, ROS1, or ALK aberrations (STARTRK-NG).
Ami V Desai, Giles W Robinson, Karen Gauvain, Ellen M Basu, Margaret E Macy, Luke Maese, Nicholas S Whipple, Amit J Sabnis, Jennifer H Foster, Suzanne Shusterman, Jane...> ;Neuro-Oncology. 2022 Oct 3
6 citations
Molecular classification and outcome of children with rare CNS embryonal tumors: results from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital including the multi-center SJYC07 a...
Anthony P Y Liu, Sandeep K Dhanda, Tong Lin, Edgar Sioson, Aksana Vasilyeva, Brian Gudenas, Ruth G Tatevossian, Sujuan Jia, Geoffrey Neale, Daniel C Bowers, Tim Hassal...> ;Acta Neuropathologica. 2022 Oct 1
34 citations
Unified rhombic lip origins of group 3 and group 4 medulloblastoma.
Kyle S Smith, Laure Bihannic, Brian L Gudenas, Parthiv Haldipur, Ran Tao, Qingsong Gao, Yiran Li, Kimberly A Aldinger, Igor Y Iskusnykh, Victor V Chizhikov, Matthew Sc...> ;Nature. 2022 Sep 1
Social Problem Solving in Survivors of Pediatric Brain Tumor.
Mallorie L Gordon, Bethany Means, Niki Jurbergs, Heather M Conklin, Amar Gajjar, Victoria W Willard> ;Journal of Pediatric Psychology. 2022 Aug 12
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Journal Articles

Association of Hearing Impairment with Neurocognition in Survivors of Childhood Cancer
Daniel A Mulrooney, Amar Gajjar, Alberto S Pappo, JAMA Oncology
Computerized Assessment of Cognitive Impairment Among Children Undergoing Radiation Therapy for Medulloblastoma
Giles W Robinson, Thomas E Merchant, Amar Gajjar, Heather M Conklin, Journal of Neuro-Oncology
Molecular Heterogeneity and CXorf67 Alterations in Posterior Fossa Group A (PFA) Ependymomas
Noah D Sabin, Amar Gajjar, Thomas E Merchant, David W Ellison, Ryan Lee, Paul Klimo, Acta Neuropathologica

Authored Content

Association of Hearing Impairment with Neurocognition in Survivors of Childhood CancerJuly 2020

Press Mentions

St. Jude Research Highlighted at Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical OncologyMay 31st, 2022
From Clinical Trials to Cures: A Breakdown of Research at St. JudeMay 23rd, 2022
Intraventricular Methotrexate May Improve Survival for Medulloblastoma SubtypesJuly 17th, 2020
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