Anil K. Sood, M.D.
Ovarian Cancer Moon Shot
About Dr. Sood
Anil K. Sood, M.D., is a physician-scientist with a long standing interest in improving the understanding of the mechanisms underlying ovarian cancer growth and progression. His research is focused on developing new biologically targeted therapies, and the role of non-coding RNAs as biomarkers and for therapeutic applications.
Affiliations and Related Links
Fighting Cancer: It's Personal
What motivates and excites you?
Scientific advances over the last few years have provided unprecedented opportunities for a detailed understanding of ovarian cancer at multiple levels. This knowledge, coupled with innovative clinical trial designs, is leading to the development of new drugs at a pace far greater than before. While ovarian cancer remains a deadly disease, these are truly exciting times for improving patient outcomes.
What makes the Moon Shots Program stand out?
MD Anderson's Moon Shots Program™ stands out because of its large, diverse and multi-disciplinary team that’s entirely dedicated to tackling this disease. Many of our projects have already been quite fruitful and led to approaches that are being adopted by other centers around the world.
What makes your fight against cancer personal?
Taking care of women with this devastating disease is humbling. I admire the strength they show in going through very difficult treatments. I also lost my father to cancer, which continues to be a motivating force for my commitment to translational research.
What's your Moon Shot focus?
Our Moon Shot™ is focused on having a near-term impact on improving detection, prevention and treatment outcomes for women with ovarian cancer. Investigators in our Moon Shot are focused on increasing the rates of genetic testing for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer and developing innovative methods for more personalized surgical care. Our efforts to improve the effectiveness of biologically targeted therapies, such as PARP inhibitors and anti-angiogenesis drugs, have led to new clinical trials.
What do you hope to accomplish?
Simply put, we hope to have a major clinical impact. This will continue to require team-work to make improvements in early detection, prevention and treatment of ovarian cancer. Importantly, we aim to collaborate with other groups and disseminate new knowledge widely to maximize clinical impact.
What else do you want people to know about you and your work?
It’s truly been a privilege to work with such a dedicated team here at MD Anderson. The Moon Shot has allowed us unique opportunities to improve clinical care and also train young scientists. It also provides a wonderful forum to interact with our patients, survivors and advocates.