Sara Pai, MD, PhD
Sara Pai, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Division of Surgical Oncology
About Sara Pai, MD, PhD
Dr. Sara Pai is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Dartmouth College with a major in biochemistry and molecular biology. After graduating Dartmouth, she completed the MD/PhD program at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in which she obtained her PhD training in cancer immunology and vaccines. After completing her residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, she joined its faculty in 2007 where she led a therapeutic human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine clinical trial which was supported by the Head and Neck Cancer SPORE program. In 2014, she was recruited to join the faculty in the Department of Surgery at Mass General. Her research interests focus on better understanding how HPV can evade the immune system and strategies that can be applied to reactivate the host immune response against the virus through vaccines and immune modulatory drugs. She leads several HPV-related investigator-initiated clinical immunotherapy trials and has a research laboratory that is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as industry. She serves on grant and strategic review panels at the NIH and international government sponsored programs in the UK, Hong Kong and Portugal. She is on the editorial board of lead scientific journals as well as serves on the advisory boards for several pharmaceutical companies.
Clinical Interests:
- Head and neck cancer
- HPV-related head and neck cancers
- Head and neck cancer immunotherapy trials
Treats:
- Adult
Locations
Surgical Oncology Associates
55 Fruit Street
Boston, MA 02114-2696
Phone: 617-724-4000
Phone: 617-726-5251
Fax: 617-726-8623
Medical Education
- M.D.; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
- Residency, The Johns Hopkins Hospital
American Board Certifications
- Otolaryngology, American Board of Otolaryngology
Accepted Insurance Plans
- Aetna Health Inc.
- AllWays Health (NHP) - ACD
- AllWays Health (NHP) - PBO
- Beech Street
- Blue Cross Blue Shield - Blue Care 65
- Blue Cross Blue Shield - Indemnity
- Blue Cross Blue Shield - Managed Care
- Blue Cross Blue Shield - Partners Plus
- BMC HealthNet Mass Health MCO/ACO
- Cigna (PAL #'s)
- Commonwealth Care Alliance
- Fallon Community HealthCare
- Great-West Healthcare (formally One Health Plan)
- Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan - ACD
- Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan - PBO
- Health Care Value Management (HCVM)
- Humana/Choice Care PPO
- Maine Community Health Options (MCHO)
- MassHealth
- Medicare
- Medicare - ACD
- OSW - Maine
- OSW - Rhode Island
- OSW - Vermont
- Private Health Care Systems (PHCS)
- Senior Whole Health
- TriCare
- Tufts Health Plan
- Unicare
- United Healthcare (non-HMO) - ACD
- United Healthcare (non-HMO) - PBO
Note: This provider may accept more insurance plans than shown; please call the practice to find out if your plan is accepted.
Research
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03019003
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02632344
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02543476
Publications
-
View my most recent publications at PubMed
Select Publications:
- Pai SI, Jack Lee J, Carey TE, Westra WH, Ferrone S, Moore C, Mosunjac MB, Shin DM, Ferris RL; HNC SPORE HIV supplement consortium. HLA class I antigen processing machinery (APM) component expression and PD-1:PD-L1 pathway activation in HIV-infected head and neck cancers. Oral Oncol 2018 Feb;77:92-97.
- Mattox AK, Lee J, Westra WH, Pierce RH, Ghossein R, Faquin WC, Diefenbach TJ, Morris LG, Lin DT, Wirth LJ, Lefranc-Torres A, Ishida E, Chakravarty PD, Johnson L, Zeng YC, Chen H, Poznansky MC, Iyengar NM, Pai SI. PD-1 expression in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas derives primarily from functionally anergic CD4+ TILs in the presence of PD-L1+ TAMs. Cancer Res 2017 Nov 15:77(22):6365-6374.
- Pai SI, Faquin WC. Programmed cell death ligand 1 as a biomarker in head and neck cancer. Cancer Cytopathol 2017 Jul;125(7);529-533.
- Pai SI, Zandberg DP, Strome SE. The role of antagonists of the PD-1:PD-L1/PD-L2 axis in head and neck cancer treatment. Oral Oncol 2016 Oct;61:152-8.
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