Charu Aggarwal, MD, MPH, FASCO
Leslye M. Heisler Professor for Lung Cancer Excellence
Department: Medicine
Contact information
Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine
10-137, South Pavilion
3400 Civic Center Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104
10-137, South Pavilion
3400 Civic Center Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 215-662-6318
Fax: 215-349-5326
Fax: 215-349-5326
Education:
MD
Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, India, 2003.
MPH (Health Care Organization and Policy)
University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2005.
Permanent linkMD
Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, India, 2003.
MPH (Health Care Organization and Policy)
University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2005.
Description of Research Expertise
Dr. Aggarwal is the Leslye Heisler Associate Professor for Lung Cancer Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.Dr. Aggarwal specializes in the management of patients with lung cancer, with a specific and clinical research focus on the development of personalized therapeutic approaches, and the discovery and application of biomarkers to guide treatment. She is a world-renowned expert in the application of plasma-based gene sequencing in the management of patients with metastatic lung cancer, and is actively working on implementation of comprehensive testing, and discovery of approaches focusing on early detection, detection of resistance mutations and disease monitoring.
Dr. Aggarwal serves as the Associate Director of Penn Center for Precision Medicine, and Director of Precision Medicine Innovation at the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation (PC3I). In her roles, she is actively involved in developing, implementing, and advancing strategic and operational precision medicine initiatives with a focus on those that involve bringing new technologies or approaches to clinical care and ultimately deliver on the promise of personalized cancer therapy.
She is an active member of the Abramson Cancer Center where she serves as Physician Leader for the clinical research program for Airways Malignancies. Dr. Aggarwal performs patient-centered, scientifically relevant novel immunotherapy clinical trials that will make a tangible impact and advance our understanding of immunotherapy in patients with Lung Cancer.
Selected Publications
H. Grover ∙ A. Kumar ∙ M. Krishna ∙ P. Kumari ∙ S. Chandrashekaraiah ∙ A. Chakraborty ∙ J. Chauhan ∙ V. Patil ∙ V.P. Shyamasundar ∙ S. Kulkarni ∙ S. Kapoor ∙ J. Wingrove ∙ Y. Mundkur ∙ T. Patil ∙ C. Aggarwal: Cellular Heterogeneity and Tertiary Lymphoid Structure Dynamics Predict Overall Survival in Immune Checkpoint Therapy-Treated NSCLC Patients. Journal of Thoracic Oncology 20(10), Oct 2025.Singh A, Horng H, Roshkovan L, Hershman M, Cohen EA, Aggarwal C, Carpenter EL, Katz SI, Kontos D.: Development of a prognostic multiomic biomarker of progression-free survival in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with first line immunotherapy. Sci Rep 15: 34591, Oct 2025.
Aggarwal C, Desai A, McConnell N, Cadirov N, Gustavsen G, Agarwal A, Chehab N, Kotapati S, Patel N.: Clinician Perspectives on Digital and Computational Pathology: Clinical Benefits, Concerns, and Willingness to Adopt. Diagnostics (Basel) 15: 2527, Oct 2025.
C. Aggarwal, D. Watson, P. Nair, A. Kumar, S. Khandelwal, J. Chauhan, S. Khanna, S. George, A. Dey, M. Patil, N. Ganesh, R. Purushottam, S. Kulkarni, P. G, D.A. Lala, S. Basu, S. Kapoor, M. Castro, J. Wingrove, T. Patil: Computational Modeling of Comprehensive Genomic Profiling to Predict Chemotherapy Benefit in Advanced NSCLC. Journal of Thoracic Oncology 20(10), Oct 2025.
N.F. Abdel Karim ∙ C. Aggarwal ∙ A. Kobayashi ∙ C. Pompili ∙ D. Molena ∙ E. Shum ∙ G. Friedrich ∙ H. Wakelee ∙ J.R. Brahmer ∙ L. Woldmann ∙ M. Boron ∙ N. Florez ∙ P. Garrido ∙ R. Shenolikar ∙ S. Peters14 ∙ J. Naidoo ∙ M.L. Hsu ∙ E. Felip: Gender Differences in Lung Cancer Diagnosis, Treatment Patterns and Outcomes: A Systematic Literature Review. Journal of Thoracic Oncology 20(10), Oct 2025.
Anagnostou V, Aggarwal C.: Toward Response-Adaptive Therapy in Locally Advanced NSCLC: Integrating ctDNA and Radiomics for Risk Stratification. Cancer Discov 15: 1534-1536, Aug 2025.
Aggarwal C, Martinez-Marti A, Majem M, Barlesi F, Carcereny E, Chu Q, Monnet I, Sánchez-Hernández A, Dakhil S, Camidge DR, Pillet M, Brown M, Paliompeis C, Dowson A, Cooper ZA, Kumar R, Herbst RS.: Durvalumab Alone or Combined With Novel Agents for Unresectable Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Update From the COAST Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open 8: e2518440, Jul 2025.
Mack PC, Redman MW, Tukachinsky H, Kozono DE, Minichiello K, Dragnev KH, Tolba KA, Neal JW, Madison RW, Waqar SN, Aggarwal C, Hirsch FR, Patel JD, Herbst RS, Chiang AC, Reckamp KL, Kelly K, Borghaei H, Gray JE, Gandara DR.: Elevated ctDNA Tumor Fraction Is Associated with Improved Mutation Detection but Worse Overall Survival in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: a Lung-MAP Study. Clin Cancer Res Jun 2025.
Roy AM, Bakouny Z, Dizman N, Paul MA, Ozay ZI, Lal BM, Nawfal R, Eid M, Chehade REH, Machaalani M, Butt A, Aggarwal C, Bekaii-Saab T, Chavez-MacGregor M, Lopes G, Marshall AL, Murphy M, Owonikoko T, Xie W, Lee AI, Choueiri TK.: International Medical Graduates Representation at International Oncology Conference Meetings: An Analysis of ASCO Annual Meetings. JCO Oncol Pract Jun 2025.
Teja Voruganti, Rosalyn Marar, Benjamin Bleiberg, Edoardo Garbo, Biagio Ricciuti, Kaushal Parikh, Charu Aggarwal: Perioperative Therapy in Oncogene-Driven Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer: Current Strategies and Unanswered Questions. American Society of Clinical Oncology Educational Book 45(3), June 2025.