Sheena Bhalla, MD
Dr. Sheena Bhalla is a thoracic oncologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. Her specialty is treating patients with thoracic malignancies, including lung cancer, pleural mesothelioma, and thymoma.[1] She works as part of a multidisciplinary team, using a range of therapies, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted drug therapies to provide her patients with the best possible outcomes.
Education and Career
Dr. Bhalla attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for her undergraduate studies. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Brain and Cognitive Science, she earned her medical degree at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville.
She then went on to complete an internship and residency in Internal Medicine, followed by a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, where she was selected as Chief Fellow.[1]
Dr. Bhalla is currently a thoracic oncologist treating patients at the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center in Dallas, Texas. She is the Director of Thoracic Medical Oncology Clinical Operations. She specializes in treating mesothelioma, lung cancer, and thymoma.
Dr. Bhalla is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Medical Oncology and Hematology.
Professional Memberships
Dr. Bhalla is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.
Research
Dr. Bhalla’s research focus includes biomarker-driven clinical trials in lung cancer, novel therapeutics and therapeutic combinations in lung cancer, and cancer care delivery.
She has published numerous articles in her key areas of interest, including:[1]
- Care disruptions among patients with lung cancer: A COVID-19 and cancer outcomes studyBhalla S, Bakouny Z, Schmidt AL, Labaki C, Steinharter JA, Tremblay DA, Awad MM, Kessler AJ, Haddad RI, Evans M, Busser F, Wotman M, Curran CR, Zimmerman BS, Bouchard G, Jun T, Nuzzo PV, Qin Q, Hirsch L, Feld J, Kelleher KM, Seidman D, Huang HH, Anderson-Keightly HM, El Zarif T, Abou Alaiwi S, Rosenbloom TD, Stewart PS, Galsky MD, Choueiri TK, Doroshow DB, Lung cancer (Amsterdam, Netherlands) 2021 Jul 160 78-83
- PD-L1 as a biomarker of response to immune-checkpoint inhibitors.Doroshow DB, Bhalla S, Beasley MB, Sholl LM, Kerr KM, Gnjatic S, Wistuba II, Rimm DL, Tsao MS, Hirsch FR, Nature reviews. Clinical oncology 2021 06 18 6 345-362
- Impact of pathological response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy on adjuvant therapy decisions and patient outcomes in gastrointestinal cancers. Bhalla S, Zhu H, Lin JY, Özbek U, Wilck EJ, Chang S, Chen X, Ward S, Harpaz N, Polydorides AD, Miller W, Fiel MI, Modica I, Fan W, Zeizafoun N, Ang C, Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) 2021 May e1412
- Admission D-dimer levels, D-dimer trends, and outcomes in COVID-19.Naymagon L, Zubizarreta N, Feld J, van Gerwen M, Alsen M, Thibaud S, Kessler A, Venugopal S, Makki I, Qin Q, Dharmapuri S, Jun T, Bhalla S, Berwick S, Christian K, Mascarenhas J, Dembitzer F, Moshier E, Tremblay D, Thrombosis research 2020 12 196 99-105
- Cancer Care Disparities during the COVID-19 Pandemic: COVID-19 and Cancer Outcomes Study.Schmidt AL, Bakouny Z, Bhalla S, Steinharter JA, Tremblay DA, Awad MM, Kessler AJ, Haddad RI, Evans M, Busser F, Wotman M, Curran CR, Zimmerman BS, Bouchard G, Jun T, Nuzzo PV, Qin Q, Hirsch L, Feld J, Kelleher KM, Seidman D, Huang HH, Anderson-Keightly HM, Abou Alaiwi S, Rosenbloom TD, Stewart PS, Galsky MD, Choueiri TK, Doroshow DB, Cancer cell 2020 Dec 38 6 769-770
- Predictive Biomarkers for Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Current Status and Future Directions.Bhalla S, Doroshow DB, Hirsch FR, Cancer journal (Sudbury, Mass.) 2020 Nov/Dec 26 6 507-516
- Convalescent Plasma for the Treatment of Severe COVID-19 Infection in Cancer Patients.Tremblay D, Seah C, Schneider T, Bhalla S, Feld J, Naymagon L, Wang B, Patel V, Jun T, Jandl T, Rahman F, Liu STH, Aberg JA, Bouvier N, Cancer medicine 2020 11 9 22 8571-8578
- Protective role of Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and COVID-19.Thibaud S, Tremblay D, Bhalla S, Zimmerman B, Sigel K, Gabrilove J, British journal of haematology 2020 07 190 2 e73-e76
