Ashwin S. Parihar, MD

Washington University in St. Louis (WU)

My broad research interests include tumor imaging and therapy in nuclear medicine. More specifically, I am interested in utilizing functional imaging to characterize tumors and explore suitable therapeutic targets. This is a part of ‘theranostics’ where a common/ similar molecule is used to image the tumor sites verifying adequate target expression, followed by targeted therapy using a therapeutic radioactive moiety. I am currently exploring several domains in theranostics, primarily applying it to prostate cancer, neuroendocrine tumors and lymphoid malignancies. These domains broadly include accurate patient selection, determining the most appropriate radiopharmaceutical and the activity to be administered, and assessing response to treatment. The long-term goal is to create personalized treatment options, based on the theranostic principle with optimal efficacy and safety.