Prajwal Rajappa, MD, MS
Director of Pediatric Precision Oncology
Associate Staff
Location: Cleveland Clinic Main Campus
Research
The translational focus of the Rajappa laboratory is to reprogram the immune microenvironment and prevent glioma malignant progression. To that end, we are currently developing next-generation precision cellular therapies to improve treatment response using a personalized medicine approach.
Biography
Prajwal Rajappa, MD, MS, is a physician-scientist at the Cleveland Clinic who serves as the Director of Pediatric Precision Oncology and specializes in immuno-oncology. In this role, he will lead the effort across the enterprise to streamline precision oncology approaches that integrate molecular diagnostics and next-generation sequencing as an addition to the standard of care for pediatric and young adult patients with cancer. In addition, his laboratory will be based in the Department of Cancer Sciences.
After obtaining his MD, Dr. Rajappa earned his Master’s Degree in Clinical and Translational Investigation at Cornell University and completed postdoctoral training with a specific focus on brain tumor immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine/New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Prior to his recruitment to the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Rajappa was an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neurological Surgery with Tenure at the Ohio State University and Principal Investigator at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Dr. Rajappa’s laboratory has been specifically focused on immune regulation in glioma malignant progression, developing next-generation cellular immunotherapies, and personalized medicine approaches for Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) patients with Central Nervous System (CNS) tumors.
His work has been supported by NIH and foundation grants, and he has served on national committees including the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Pediatric Immunotherapy Development Network, the NIH Clinical Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumor (CNBT) Study Section, as well as the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO). His research has appeared in leading journals such as the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, and Cell Reports.
Education & Professional Highlights
Appointed
2025
Education & Fellowships
Precision Medicine Fellowship - Weill Cornell Medicine/New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Precision Medicine
New York, NY USA
2019
Postdoctoral Fellowship - Weill Cornell Medicine/New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Brain Tumor Immunology & Neurological Surgery Research
New York, NY USA
2019
Graduate - Cornell University
Clinical and Translational Investigation
Ithaca, NY USA
2019
Medical Education - St. George's University School of Medicine
St. George's, Grenada
2010
Professional Highlights
- Sanford Goldston Memorial Research Award, Ohio Cancer Research
- Member, Pediatric Immunotherapy and Development Network
- Pediatric Precision Oncology Award, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation
- Associate Editor, Molecular Therapy Oncology
Professional Memberships
- Society for Neuro-Oncology
- American Association for Cancer Research
Research
Coming soon.
Our Team
Selected Publications
Canella, A., Nazzaro, M., Rajendran, S. Schmitt, C., Haffey, A., Nigita, G., Thomas, D., Lybergerg, J., Behbehani, G., Amankulor, N., Mardis, ER., Cripe, TP., Rajappa, P., Genetically modified IL2 bone marrow-derived myeloid cellreprogram the glioma immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, Cell Reports. 2023 Aug 29;42(8):112891. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112891
Rajendran, S., Peterson, C., Canella, A., Hu, Y., Gross, A., Cam, M., Harmanci, A., Distefano, R., Nigita., A., Wang, W., Hester, M., Miller, K., Elemento, O., Roberts, R., Holland, EC,. Rao, G., Mardis, ER., and Rajappa, P, Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Reveals Immunosuppressive Myeloid Cell Diversity During Malignant Progression in Glioma, Cell Reports. 2023 Mar 28;42(3):112197
Rajappa P, Eng KW, Bareja R, Bander ED, Yuan M, Dua A, Bhanu Maachani U, Snuderl M, Pan H, Zhang T, Tosi U, Ivasyk I, Souweidane MM, Elemento O, Sboner A, Greenfield JP, Pisapia DJ. Utility of Multimodality molecular profiling for pediatric patients with central nervous system tumors. Neuro-Oncology Advances. 2022. DOI: 10.1093/noajnl/vdac031
Huang Y, Rajappa P, Hu W, Hoffman C, Cisse B, Kim JK, Gorge E, Yanowitch R, Cope W, Vartanian E, Xu R, Zhang T, Pisapia D, Xiang J, Huse J, Matei I, Peinado H, Bromberg J, Holland E, Ding BS, Rafii S, Lyden D, and Greenfield J. A proangiogenic signaling axis in myeloid cells promotes malignant progression of glioma. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2017. 127(5):1826-1838. DOI: 10.1172
Huang Y, Hoffman C, Rajappa P, Kim JH, Hu W, Huse J, Tang Z, Li X, Weksler B, Bromberg J, Lyden DC, and Greenfield JP. Oligodendrocyte progenitor cells promote neovascularization in glioma by disrupting the blood-brain barrier. Cancer Research. 2014. 74(4):1011-1021. DOI:10.1158/0008-5472
Rajappa P, Cobb W, Vartanian E, Huang Y, Daly L, Hoffman C, Zhang J, Shen B, Yanowitch R, Garg K, Cisse B, Haddock S, Huse J, Pisapia D, Chan T, Lyden D, Bromberg J, and Greenfield JP. Malignant Astrocytic Transformation Potentiated by JAK- mediated Recruitment of Myeloid Cells. Clinical Cancer Research. 2017. 23(12): 3109-3119. DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.