Niraj K. Shenoy, MD, PhD, MS

I am a physician scientist - a cancer biologist and a medical oncologist specializing in genitourinary malignancies. My research focuses on understanding and targeting the complex interplay between aberrant metabolism, epigenetic dysregulation, immune evasion, and hypoxia signaling in cancer. While kidney cancer is a primary area of emphasis, my lab also pursues select projects across other tumor types.

My scientific contributions include: (i) defining molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis and progression of clear cell renal cell carcinoma, with implications for prognosis and the identification of therapeutic vulnerabilities; (ii) foundational studies providing scientific rationale for the clinical exploration of high-dose ascorbic acid as an adjunct anti-cancer therapy, particularly in combination with anti-PD1 immunotherapy; (iii) clinical science contributions such as ‘derivative survival analysis’, meta-analysis of immunotherapy in advanced cancers, and utility of circulating tumor DNA in renal malignancies. These contributions as a principal/ lead investigator have been published in leading scientific journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI), Cancer Cell, Annals of Oncology, JAMA Oncology, Kidney International, and Cell Reports Medicine, among others.

Clinically, I am triple board certified in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, and Hematology, with a practice focused on genitourinary cancers. My clinical approach emphasizes integrating basic pathophysiology and contemporary clinical evidence into shared decision-making with patients.

I was an Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology) & Pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine from 2021 to 2025, where I also served as Director of Kidney Cancer Research. Prior to that, I was Assistant Professor of Medicine (Oncology) at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore, where I established my lab in 2018, following the completion of my Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at Mayo Clinic Rochester.

In 2023, I was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB), UK, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCP Edin).