Nadeem Riaz

Physician/Scientist. Head and Neck Oncologist (radiation). Interests in cancer genomics, immunotherapy & DNA repair. @MSKCancerCenter

[Nadeem Riaz @xrtGenomics]

🥳🎆 Kicking of 2026 with our work showing intra-tumoral bacteria 🦠 affect outcomes of Radiotherapy + anti-PD-L1 now out in @NatureCancer with sister paper by @nataliesilvermd! Even when trials "fail" – we can learn from them! https://t.co/0iE2v2sOKZ. -- w/ @GeneCollector, @imrtlee, @TylerAlban1, @DrHaddadRobert, the Pfizer team and more! (1/N)

[Michael Topf MD, MSCI @TopfHNS]

Dr. Cate Haring from @OhioStateENT @OhioStateMed bringing the audience up to speed on various HPV-associated OPSCC ctDNA tests - strengths, limitations of each approach #NextGenHN @KimrynRathmell @Nate_Verhagen @xrtGenomics

[Edward Christopher "Chris" Dee, MD @EChrisDee]

🧵 Excited to share our multicenter, prospective phase 2 trial of proton re-irradiation for people with recurrent head & neck cancer, now in @JournalCancer

Grateful to Dr @IMRTLee @xrtGenomics @DrPaulRomesser and team for the opportunity to write 🙏

🔗 https://t.co/UNSRCe132P

[Heather McGee, MD PhD @HMcGeeMDPhD]

I am thrilled to share that our work “Type I IFN promotes ILC2-to-ILC1 plasticity in pre-clinical radiation-induced lung injury” was published today in Nature Communications. I couldn’t be more proud of our team! @COH_RadOnc @NatureComms

https://t.co/di4CVvTmPE

[Amir Safavi @safaviaa]

Now in @JAMAOnc:

We report 5y outcomes post 30 Gy elective RT (total 70 Gy CCRT) for 276 pts w/ HPV-related OPC #hncsm at @MSKCancerCenter #radonc

LRC 97.0%
OS 90.8%
PFS 85.9%
DMFS 91.2%

@imrtlee @xrtGenomics @seanmmcbride @CJTsaiMDPhD @EChrisDee

👉 https://t.co/FgCBjwkkq4

[Nadeem Riaz @xrtGenomics]

@ACKoongMDPhD @theNAMedicine @lab_rezvani @UTMDAnderson Congrats!!!!

[Devraj Basu, MD, PhD, FACS @BasuLab1]

Well written review by @imrtlee @xrtGenomics et al and an easy read for the non-rad onc, contextualizing differences between the two phase III trials comparing IMRT to IMPT for oropharyngeal cancer. https://t.co/k1Y6SBiyOm

[Edward Christopher "Chris" Dee, MD @EChrisDee]

Incredibly proud of Sudarshan Ramanan @sramanan03, @George_Ashji, and team who led our newly published commentary in @JCO_ASCO!

A remarkable achievement and a testament to the team's leadership, intellectual curiosity, and hard work.

🔗 https://t.co/xsXfqZvGNi

[AACR @AACR]

A new study published in @CD_AACR suggests that age-based germline screening for pathogenic variants misses the majority of inherited cancer risk variants, compared with universal screening. Read more: https://t.co/kG5VR6r7SD

[Henning Willers, MD, FASTRO @HenningWillers]

1/2 #RadRes2026

Now this was illuminating, amd entertaining 😅👍

Painter Debate: ☢️what is the value of mouse experiments in radiation science❓️

@DKirschMDPhD and @CancerConnector going at it with much bravado, and wit🔥🔥
And, in David's case, as expecteded, rock solid data☺️

[Drew Moghanaki @DrewMoghanaki]

Sean Pitroda, whose work has raised concerns about the Badscopal effect, shares a few words of wisdom at #ASTRO26. Including the importance of total metastatic ablation of all visible sites in case irradiation of one tumor signals another unirradiated to grow.

[Nadeem Riaz @xrtGenomics]

#radonc has gigantic oppurtunity to improve care in metastatic cancer. But we need to understand our impact on the biology more — great session by @jeremy_setton @Samuel_Bakhoum , @CJTsaiMDPhD , @SeanPitroda — trying to unravel how to move biology in this space into the clinic #astro26

[Daniel E Spratt @DrSpratticus]

#ASTRO26

Accela and the neo. Proud for @RadOncUH to be the first center in the world to enroll a patient on a trial with this amazing tech.

@DrAndrewLoblaw @alison_tree @ASTRO_org @AmarUKishan @cwspeers @DrewMoghanaki @freddyeescorcia @EvanThomas84 @EricTopol @montypal @neerajaiims @wandering_gu @PGrivasMDPhD @shilpaonc @TylerSbrt @DrChoueiri @piet_ost @sueyom @jamesbyu @NehaVapiwala @NRGonc @nytimes @washingtonpost @EricTopol @urotoday @SbrtSean

[Nadeem Riaz @xrtGenomics]

@cwspeers @ASTRO_org This has been a complete train wreck — agree 💯.

[C. Jillian Tsai, MD, PhD @CJTsaiMDPhD]

🌎👋@NRGonc #HN009 p16-neg #ASTRO26; Dr. Paul Harari @UWMadison

➡️Diff AE profiles b/w Q1 vs Q3
➡️6 mo LRF diff 5% (Q1 9.6% & Q3 4.6%; 95%CI 1.0-8.9) Longer FU needed.

@DanielMaMD @quyhnhi99 @imrtlee @JamesBatesMD
@JJCaudell @drlorenmell @seanmmcbride @xrtGenomics
@ASTRO_org

[Nadeem Riaz @xrtGenomics]

No difference in overall survival with protons vs photons in OPC! Great work by our APP Ying! @imrtlee @seanmmcbride @yaoyu @CJTsaiMDPhD #astro26 #hncsm #radonc

[C. Jillian Tsai, MD, PhD @CJTsaiMDPhD]

🦠💡Next up - TRINITY trial presented by Zachary Zumsteg at @CedarsSinai, investigating reduced dose/volume CRT after TORS with excellent 2-yr PFS.

#ASTRO26 @ASTRO_org
@xrtGenomics @DanielMaMD @RobertFerrisMD @drdavidpalma

[C. Jillian Tsai, MD, PhD @CJTsaiMDPhD]

🚨‼️Happening now - technology driven strategies for HNSCC.
First talk - @imrtlee on FMISO pooled analyses.
#ASTRO26
@ASTRO_org
@xrtGenomics @seanmmcbride @MSK_RadOnc

[JNCI @JNCI_Now]

🔵 Phase 2 (n = 98)randomized trial of proton beam RT vs IMRT in postoperative unilateral #HeadAndNeckCancer

➡️ Clinician-graded grade ≥2 mucositis 7.4% vs 22.7% (P=.03), dysgeusia 9.3% vs 31.8% (P=.005).

🔗: https://t.co/IGpugTop1W

@IMRTLee | @xrtGenomics | @EChrisDee

[Nadeem Riaz @xrtGenomics]

Most RT-drug combos bet on synergy. Yet synergy is rare (most combos only additive). We're chasing a bar most of oncology can't clear. Our phase 1s don't even measure it. ProjectOptimus for #RadOnc & our editorial in @IJROBP w/Gustav, Ezra & @imrtlee -
https://t.co/2Y0h3rsi5x

[Henning Willers, MD, FASTRO @HenningWillers]

Must listen and must read!!
See also accompanying commentary by Nadeem Riaz @xrtGenomics which should be out soon in @IJROBP
#RedJournal #radonc #radbio

@finn_corinne
@sueyom

[Wungki Park, MD MS @CentralParkWMD]

🧵 1/10 The arc: POLAR - MDF – TIE

Pancreatic cancer is profoundly resistant to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Yet, POLAR (pembrolizumab plus olaparib) trial showed that a subset of patients, especially with HRD (gBRCA2/1m or gPALB2m) tumors, can achieve remarkably durable control.

That led us to two questions:

#1 👆🏼what makes these tumors immunogenic?

#2 ✌️what makes that immunity actually work?

👑 #2. POLAR TIE @biorxivpreprint
https://t.co/IAQpmSzBE0

#1. MDF https://t.co/9vqCZF8Z6i

#0. POLAR @NatureMedicine https://t.co/UtCD1C7i4R

#cancer #immunotherapy #PancreaticCancer #ICI #BRCA #HRD #3episodes @MSKCancerCenter @MSK_DeptOfMed @CpcrMsk @ldiaz1971 @debschrag
@PanCAN @oncodaily @OncoDailyGI @OncoAlert @OncBrothers @brunolarvol

[alex rubinsteyn @iskander]

Starting a new thing at UNC with @BenjaminGVincen to figure out which tumor-specific pMHCs are actually on tumor cells & which vaccine platforms are more immunogenic.

Lots of long-read WGS/scRNA, targeted mass spec, tumor-specific TCRs coming your way in the near future