Patnaik elected to prestigious American Society for Clinical Investigation

University of Chicago physician-scientist Akash Patnaik, MD, PhD, MMSc , MD, PhD, MMSc, has been elected to the The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), one of the oldest and most esteemed nonprofit honor societies of physician-scientists. He is one of 99 members elected to the 2025 class. Membership is by election only and represents all areas of biomedicine, and only physician-scientists who are 50 years of age or younger are eligible for nomination to the Society by internationally recognized leaders in biomedical research. Therefore, membership in the ASCI is a recognition of a physician-scientist’s outstanding contributions, at a relatively young age, to the understanding of human disease.

The Society counts among its ranks more than 3,000 members since it was founded in 1908, many of whom are leaders in academic medicine and industry, including 36 from the University of Chicago. Among its membership, ASCI boasts winners of the Nobel Prize and the Lasker Award and elected members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

Patnaik is Associate Professor of Medicine & Deputy Section Chief for Translational Research within the Section of Hematology/Oncology at University of Chicago, Co-Leader for the Clinical & Experimental Therapeutics Program at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center and a practicing medical oncologist.

“During my early years in medical and research training, I witnessed the downhill course of a close maternal uncle who died of prostate cancer at age 67,” Patnaik said. “I was struck by the inadequacy of our medicines to treat this devastating disease. This set me down the path of finding a solution.”

Patnaik has been at the forefront of efforts to elucidate the mechanistic basis for immunotherapy resistance in molecularly defined subsets of aggressive-variant prostate cancer (AVPC), which are associated with poor prognosis and therapeutic outcomes. Using genetically defined murine models of AVPC, he discovered and developed several therapeutic strategies to activate myeloid innate immunity in the tumor microenvironment driven by neutrophils (a paradigm shift in cancer immunotherapy research) and macrophages, and successfully translated these laboratory discoveries into innovative clinical trials, which he has co-led nationally.

“I receive my election to the ASCI with the utmost humility and profound gratitude. This national and international recognition fuels my aspirational goal of ending suffering and death from advanced prostate cancer for all patients,” Patnaik said. He attributes his success to his laboratory and clinical research teams, patients and supportive family.

Vikas Sukhatme , MD, ScD, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Medicine & Former Dean at Emory School of Medicine, said, “I have followed Akash’s career and scholarly contributions since his training years at Harvard. He is an exemplary physician-scientist who has made groundbreaking scientific discoveries and rapidly translated them into the clinic.”

Patnaik is passionate about “connecting the dots” and applying his research to other types of cancer as well and building team science collaborations to advance the field of cancer biomedicine.

“Akash is a consummate physician-scientist,” said Lawrence Fong , MD, Director of the Integrated Immunotherapy Research Center at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “His work has significantly advanced our understanding of immunotherapy resistance in the most aggressive forms of prostate cancer. Remarkably, he has developed several creative strategies to overcome this formidable challenge in the clinic, with far-reaching impact across multiple cancers."

Newly elected ASCI members will be formally inducted on April 25, 2025 in Chicago at the?joint meeting?for ASCI, the Association of American Physicians and the American Physician-Scientists Association.

Patnaik said, “We are in the midst of a revolution in biomedical research, with unparalleled opportunities to treat human disease like never before. While induction to the ASCI is a major milestone in my career, there is work to be done. It is a privilege to be part of a community of like-minded physician-scientists at ASCI who share a similar optimism about the future of biomedicine."