# Ravindra Uppaluri

Source: https://onco.cc/people/ravindra-uppaluri/  
OnCo record `ravindra-uppaluri` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Surgeon-scientist who led the first neoadjuvant pembrolizumab trial in head and neck cancer and the KEYNOTE-689 study that made it standard.

## Summary

Ravindra Uppaluri led the first window-of-opportunity trial of neoadjuvant pembrolizumab in resectable head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, defining pathological response as a marker, and was global principal investigator of KEYNOTE-689, which showed perioperative pembrolizumab improves event-free survival in locally advanced resectable disease, the first new curative-intent approach in two decades. His laboratory studies immune escape in head and neck cancer.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Tags: head-and-neck; surgery; neoadjuvant
- Role: Chief of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
- Specialisms: Head and neck surgery; Neoadjuvant immunotherapy; Tumour immunology; Pathological response

## Sources

- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Uppaluri%20R%5BAuthor%5D%20neoadjuvant%20pembrolizumab%20head%20neck

## Connected records

- cancers: [Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/head-and-neck/)
- technologies: [Immune checkpoint inhibitors](https://onco.cc/technologies/checkpoint-inhibitor/)
- targets: [PD-1](https://onco.cc/targets/pd1/)
- drugs: [Pembrolizumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/pembrolizumab/)
- institutions: [Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center](https://onco.cc/institutions/dana-farber/)
- trials: [KEYNOTE-689](https://onco.cc/trials/keynote-689/)

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