December 8, 2022:

Ali Ajrouch, MD, is a thoracic oncology post doctoral fellow at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Ajrouch’s current research focuses on improving outcomes in lung cancer patients. This includes improving health disparity by increasing access to lung cancer screening and early detection, identifying factors delaying patient care, incorporating novel technologies to personalize treatments and understanding treatment side effects.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Nasser Hanna, Dr. Ajrouch’s most recent projects aim to (1) use circulating tumor DNA as a marker to personalize immunotherapy duration following chemoradiation consolidation in stage III NSCLC and (2) widen the bottleneck to lung cancer screening and smoking cessation services by using the mammography setting as a bridge to preventative care.

Three interesting facts about Ali Ajrouch, MD:

  • I starred on a TV show as a kid for a year. So yeah, there’s a chance I peaked at 11.
  • I learned how to ride a bike at age 26 when I first moved to Indy. Now my e-bike commute is one of my favorite things about my day.
  • My mom will definitely share this all over Facebook.

About the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium: The Big Ten cancer centers have united to transform the conduct of cancer research through collaborative, hypothesis-driven, highly translational oncology trials that leverage the scientific and clinical expertise of Big Ten universities. The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium creates a unique team-research culture to drive science rapidly from ideas to treatment-changing paradigms. Within this innovative environment, today’s research leaders collaborate with and mentor the research leaders of tomorrow with the unified goal of improving the lives of all patients with cancer.

About the Big Ten Conference: The Big Ten Conference is an association of world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching and public service. Founded in 1896, the Big Ten has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in the lives of students competing in intercollegiate athletics and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness and competitiveness. The broad-based programs of the 14 Big Ten institutions will provide over $200 million in direct financial support to more than 9,800 students for more than 11,000 participation opportunities on 350 teams in 42 different sports. The Big Ten sponsors 28 official conference sports, 14 for men and 14 for women, including the addition of men’s ice hockey and men’s and women’s lacrosse since 2013. For more information, visit www.bigten.org