Abhijit Patel

Abhijit Patel, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale School of Medicine and Medical Director of Lawrence & Memorial Cancer Care Center in Waterford. His research focuses on developing innovative liquid biopsy technologies for cancer detection and monitoring through analysis of circulating tumor DNA.

Dr. Patel received his MD and PhD (Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry) from Yale University, completed an internship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and pursued residency in radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School. His postdoctoral research was conducted at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital.

His research program centers on developing ultrasensitive diagnostic tools to measure trace amounts of circulating tumor DNA molecules via analysis of genomic and epigenomic signatures. Key areas include early detection of new and recurrent cancers, assessment of treatment response, and tracking genomic changes in tumors over time. His work combines expertise from clinical oncology, molecular biology, chemistry, computer science, and microfluidics.

Dr. Patel's publication record shows consistent output with multiple high-impact papers in journals like Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nucleic Acids Research, and JCO Precision Oncology. His recent work has focused on machine learning applications for predicting lymph node metastasis in lung cancer and technical innovations for analyzing ultra-short DNA fragments in liquid biopsies.

His scientific contributions have been recognized with awards including the Lungevity Foundation Early Detection Award and Tina's Wish Foundation Research Award. Dr. Patel is actively involved in clinical trials related to cancer detection and treatment, particularly in lung cancer applications.

As Medical Director at Lawrence & Memorial Cancer Care Center, he bridges laboratory research with clinical practice, ensuring his diagnostic innovations address real-world clinical needs. His work represents a promising approach to noninvasive cancer detection and monitoring that could significantly impact patient care.