Naga Vara Kishore Pillarsetty, PhD
Radiochemist
My Role at MSKWe post reviews for MSK healthcare providers who have at least 30 patient experience surveys completed. If you do not see reviews for a provider, it may be because they do not yet have enough survey responses, or the provider may not be part of the group of healthcare providers included in the survey.
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Areas of Expertise
My Specialties
- Development and production of PET agents for clinical studies
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About Me
- Attending Chemist
I am a radiochemist working in Memorial Hospital’s Department of Radiology with a focus on the synthesis and development of positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging probes. I have a PhD degree in chemistry and while a post-doctoral fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering, I developed an interest in biology. During my fellowship, I synthesized fluorine-18 and iodine-124 labeled molecules, which can act as PET probes for imaging HSV1-tk gene expression or function as a marker for proliferation, a hallmark of cancer. The information obtained from PET imaging was used to assess the biological status of the tumor cells.
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Since many disease states, including cancer, involve alterations in basic biological functions of the cells, information regarding these alterations can aid in diagnosis of disease and help in planning the most effective treatment. Non-invasive PET imaging is powerful technique which provides us with vital biological information which can be extremely useful in disease diagnosis and management. With this background, I became interested in development of PET/radiochemical probes which augment solving fundamental biological problems. Since this requires a multidisciplinary effort, I am extremely lucky and grateful to have colleagues who are experts in fields ranging from chemistry to radiology. We enjoy extremely fruitful collaborations and interact very closely on all aspects of research. My current research interests and collaborations include:
- synthesis and development of fluorine-18 and iodine-124 labeled generic PET tracers for studying functional differences between tumor cells and normal cells,
- development of radiolabeling protocols for tyrosine kinase targeted PET imaging agents,
- using animal models to evaluate efficacy of the PET tracers, and
- developing new radiolabeling protocols and methodologies.
A radiochemist is a doctor and scientist who studies radioactive elements.
My Specialties
- Development and production of PET agents for clinical studies
Education
- PhD, University of Missouri. Columbia
Fellowships
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
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Contact and Location
Dr. Pillarsetty sees patients at one location.
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Colleagues
Doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering work as teams, with specialists from all different areas. This allows us to consider all your needs together, and to give you the best possible care.
Clinical Trials
Memorial Sloan Kettering's doctors and scientists are constantly developing new treatments for cancer. MSK is typically running hundreds of clinical trials at a given time.
You may be able to participate in a clinical trial even if you are new to MSK. Search our online directory to find trial information and see more about who can participate.
Search clinical trialsResearch and Publications
Visit PubMed for a full listing of Dr. Pillarsetty’s journal articles. Pubmed is an online index of research papers and other articles from the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.
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Disclosures
Doctors and faculty members often work with pharmaceutical, device, biotechnology, and life sciences companies, and other organizations outside of MSK, to find safe and effective cancer treatments, to improve patient care, and to educate the health care community.
MSK requires doctors and faculty members to report (“disclose”) the relationships and financial interests they have with external entities. As a commitment to transparency with our community, we make that information available to the public.
Naga Vara Kishore Pillarsetty discloses the following relationships and financial interests:
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AbbVie
Equity -
Adjuvance Technologies
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Amedisys
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Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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Aytu BioScience, Inc.
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Bayer
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Celldex Therapeutics
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Editas
Equity -
Evergreen Theragnostics
Equity; Professional Services and Activities -
General Electric
Equity -
Immunogen
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Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Equity
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Johnson & Johnson
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Lexicon Pharmaceuticals
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Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc
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OncoMed Pharmaceuticals
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Revolution Medicines
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Samus Therapeutics LLC
Intellectual Property Rights -
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
Equity -
Verastem
Equity -
Viking Therapeutics Inc
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Y-mAbs Therapeutics, Inc.
Intellectual Property Rights -
Ziopharm
Equity
If you’re a patient at MSK and would like more information about your doctor’s external relationships, please talk with your doctor.
The information published here is for a specific annual disclosure period. There may be differences between information on this and other public sites as a result of different reporting periods and/or the various ways relationships and financial interests are categorized by organizations that publish such data.
This page and data include information for a specific MSK annual disclosure period (January 1, 2022 through disclosure submission in spring 2023). This data reflects interests that may or may not still exist. This data is updated annually.
Learn more about MSK’s COI policies here. For questions regarding MSK’s COI-related policies and procedures, email MSK’s Compliance Office at [email protected].