Dr. Patnaik is a genitourinary medical oncologist and physician-scientist who leads a translational research program (laboratory and clinical trials) in prostate cancer (PC) at the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCCCC). He is Associate Professor of Medicine, Deputy Section Chief for Translational Research within the Section of Hematology/Oncology at University of Chicago (UChicago) and Program Leader for the Clinical & Experimental Therapeutics Program at University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCCCC). He also serves as Chair of the Precision Oncology Tumor Board within UCCCC and Junior Faculty Mentoring Committee within Hematology/Oncology at UChicago.

During MD/PhD training at Penn State, Dr. Patnaik’s Ph.D. led to the seminal discovery that retroviruses utilize cellular ubiquitin to exit from infected cells (also recently demonstrated for SARS-CoV2). This research experience was transformative and shaped his decision to return to the laboratory after completion of his clinical training. He did his residency in Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic and Hematology/Oncology fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School (HMS). He pursued postdoctoral research training in Cancer Biology in the laboratory of Dr. Lewis Cantley and a Master of Medical Sciences (M.M.Sc.) in Clinical Investigation at HMS.

Dr. Patnaik’s independent translational research program focuses on mechanisms for immunotherapy resistance in aggressive-variant prostate cancers (AVPC), which are associated with poor prognosis, therapeutic outcomes and immunotherapy resistance. This resulted in the development of therapeutic strategies to enhance immune checkpoint inhibitor sensitivity in AVPC and other solid tumors, including an FDA approval in clear cell-renal cell cancer. His discoveries in AVPC have been translated into investigator-initiated clinical trials, which he has co-led nationally. He serves as Deputy Editor for Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, an American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) journal, a leadership role he has held since 2019.