Email

rparihar@bcm.edu

Positions

Assistant Professor

Pediatrics
Hematology-Oncology
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas

Associate Director

Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas

Faculty Member

Center for Cell and Gene Therapy
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas

Research Member

Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas

Faculty Member

Immunology and Microbiology
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas

Faculty Member

Development, Disease Models, and Therapeutics
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas

Addresses

Texas Children's Hospital, Mark Wallace Tower (Clinic)

6701 Fannin St
14th floor
Houston, TX 77030
United States
Phone: (832) 822-4242

Certifications

Board Certified

American Board of Pediatrics

Pediatric Hematology-Oncology

Fellow (FAAP)

American Academy of Pediatrics

Board Certified

American Board of Pediatrics

General Pediatrics

Professional Interests

• Pediatric solid tumors
• Solid tumor microenvironment
• Natural Killer (NK) cell biology
• Cellular therapies for solid tumors

Professional Statement

I am a pediatric oncologist with an interest in caring for children with solid tumors. I have an active research lab interested in stimulating the immune system to fight solid tumors. My lab investigates the role of a specific type of immune cell called the natural killer (NK) cell in the control of cancer. My current research projects aim to enhance NK cell function in order to target the tumor microenvironment, essentially getting rid of the accessory cells that help a tumor resist standard therapies. I am currently working on introducing the enhanced NK cells as therapy for children with advanced cancers. In addition, we are using our established lab models to better understand how the tumor microenvironment suppresses the immune system, in order to develop new approaches to overcome this inhibition and improve immune-based therapies for pediatric cancers.

Websites

Selected Publications

• Navin, I., Lam, M.T., and Parihar, R. "Design and implementation of NK cell-based immunotherapy to overcome the solid tumor microenvironment." Cancers. 2020 Dec 21;12(12):3871-79.. Pubmed PMID: 33371456
• Devkota, L., Starosolski, Z., Rivas, C.H., Stupin, I., Annapragada, A., Ghaghada, K.B., and Parihar, R. "Detection of response to tumor microenvironment–targeted cellular immunotherapy using nano‑radiomics." Science Advances. 2020 Jul 10;6(eaba6156.) Pubmed PMID: 32832602
• Dysthe, M., and Parihar, R. "Myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the tumor microenvironment." Adv. Exp. Med. Biol.. 2020;1224:117-40. Pubmed PMID: 32036608
• Parihar, R., Rivas, C., Huyhn, M., Omer, B., Lapteva, N., Metelitsa, L., Gottschalk, S., and Rooney, C.M. "NK cells expressing a chimeric activating receptor eliminate MDSCs and rescue impaired CAR T cell activity against solid tumors." Cancer Immunology Research. 2019;7(3):363-75.. Pubmed PMID: 30651290