Michelle Echevarria Colon, MD

Cancer Focus:
Esophageal Cancer, Head and Neck Cancer, Oral Cavity or Throat Cancer, Throat Cancer, Thyroid Cancer

Dr. Michelle Echevarria is an Assistant Member in the Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Echevarria received her Medical Degree at Ponce School of Medicine, Ponce, Puerto Rico, and her Master of Science in Molecular Medicine at the University of South Florida. Dr. Echevarria recently completed a Radiation Oncology Residency at Moffitt Cancer Center/University of South Florida, where she also served as Chief Resident. Dr. Echevarria’s clinical interests include the use of advanced radiation techniques such as intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) in the treatment of head and neck cancers. Her research interests include the use of liquid biopsies, in the form of circulating tumor DNA and circulating viral DNA, as a personalization tool for the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer.

• Heron DE, Ward MC, Yom SS, Peterson CR, Spencer SA, Echevarria M. Recurrent Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head & Neck: Novel Approaches to Re-Irradiation. Otolaryng Clin N Am. 2026 Feb.59(1):199-210. Pubmedid: 41027765.
• Echevarria M, Park R, Caudell JJ, Kim Y, Yang GQ, Kirtane K, Chaudhary R, Kumar S, Amelio AL, Giuliano AR, Chung CH. Plasma Cell-Free Human Papillomavirus DNA and Oral Gargle HPV DNA in Patients with HPV-Related Oropharyngeal Cancer Treated with Radiotherapy. Cancer Res Commun. 2025 Jul.5(7):1194-1202. Pubmedid: 40643202. Pmcid: PMC12281097.
• Echevarria MI, Yang GQ, Chen DT, Kirtane K, Russell J, Kish J, Muzaffar J, Otto K, Padhya T, McMullen C, Patel K, Chung CH, Caudell JJ. Phase 1 Dose Escalation of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy and Concurrent Cisplatin for Reirradiation of Unresectable, Recurrent Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2023 Oct.117(2):341-347. Pubmedid: 37105404.
• Subramaniam RM, DeMora L, Yao M, Yom SS, Gillison M, Caudell JJ, Waldron J, Xia P, Chung C, Truong MT, Echevarria M, Chan JW, Geiger JL, Mell L, Seaward S, Thorstad WL, Beitler JJ, Sultanem K, Blakaj D, Le QT. 18F-FDG PET/CT Prediction of Treatment Outcomes in Human Papillomavirus-Positive, Locally Advanced Oropharyngeal Cancer Patients Receiving Deintensified Therapy: Results from NRG-HN002. J Nucl Med. 2023 Mar.64(3):362-367. Pubmedid: 36215572. Pmcid: PMC10071810.
• Caudell JJ, Torres-Saavedra PA, Rosenthal DI, Axelrod RS, Nguyen-Tan PF, Sherman EJ, Weber RS, Galvin JM, El-Naggar AK, Konski AA, Echevarria MI, Dunlap NE, Shenouda G, Singh AK, Beitler JJ, Garsa A, Bonner JA, Garden AS, Algan O, Harris J, Le QT. Long-Term Update of NRG/RTOG 0522: A Randomized Phase 3 Trial of Concurrent Radiation and Cisplatin With or Without Cetuximab in Locoregionally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2023 Jul.116(3):533-543. Pubmedid: 36549347. Pmcid: PMC10247515.
• Echevarria M, Caudell J. Balancing Risks and Benefits of Dose and Volume of Radiation Therapy in a Neck Recurrence From Tongue Cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2020 Apr.106(5):902-903. Pubmedid: 32171458.
• Martin-Gomez L, Giuliano AR, Fulp WJ, Caudell J, Echevarria M, Sirak B, Abrahamsen M, Isaacs-Soriano KA, Hernandez-Prera JC, Wenig BM, Vorwald K, McMullen CP, Wadsworth JT, Slebos RJ, Chung CH. Human Papillomavirus Genotype Detection in Oral Gargle Samples Among Men With Newly Diagnosed Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma. JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2019 May.145(5):460-466. Pubmedid: 30920604. Pmcid: PMC6537790.
• Echevarria MI, Awasthi S, Cheng CH, Berglund AE, Rounbehler RJ, Gerke TA, Takhar M, Davicioni E, Klein EA, Freedland SJ, Ross AE, Schaeffer EM, Den RB, Cleveland JL, Park JY, Rayford W, Yamoah K. African American Specific Gene Panel Predictive of Poor Prostate Cancer Outcome. J Urol. 2019 Aug.202(2):247-255. Pubmedid: 31107158. Pmcid: PMC7882398.
• Naghavi AO, Echevarria MI, Strom TJ, Abuodeh YA, Venkat PS, Ahmed KA, Demetriou S, Frakes JM, Kim Y, Kish JA, Russell JS, Otto KJ, Chung CH, Harrison LB, Trotti A, Caudell JJ. Patient choice for high-volume center radiation impacts head and neck cancer outcome. Cancer Med. 2018 Oct.7(10):4964-4979. Pubmedid: 30175512. Pmcid: PMC6198196.
• Frakes JM, Abuodeh YA, Naghavi AO, Echevarria MI, Shridhar R, Friedman M, Kim R, El-Haddad G, Kis B, Biebel B, Sweeney J, Choi J, Anaya D, Giuliano AR, Hoffe SE. Viral hepatitis associated hepatocellular carcinoma outcomes with yttrium-90 radioembolization. J Gastrointest Oncol. 2018 Jun.9(3):546-552. Pubmedid: 29998020. Pmcid: PMC6006034.
• Abuodeh Y, Naghavi AO, Echevarria M, DeMarco M, Tonner B, Feygelman V, Stevens CW, Perez BA, Dilling TJ. Quantitatively Excessive Normal Tissue Toxicity and Poor Target Coverage in Postoperative Lung Cancer Radiotherapy Meta-analysis. Clin Lung Cancer. 2018 Jan.19(1):e123-e130. Pubmedid: 29107487.
• Echevarria MI, Naghavi AO, Abuodeh YA, Ahmed KA, Chevere C, Fernandez D, Yamoah K. Low-dose-rate Brachytherapy for Prostate Cancer in Low-resource Settings. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2017 Oct.99(2):378-382. Pubmedid: 28871987.
• Naghavi AO, Gonzalez RJ, Scott JG, Kim Y, Abuodeh YA, Strom TJ, Echevarria M, Mullinax JE, Ahmed KA, Harrison LB, Fernandez DC. Staged reconstruction brachytherapy has lower overall cost in recurrent soft-tissue sarcoma. J Contemp Brachytherapy. 2017 Feb.9(1):20-29. Pubmedid: 28344600. Pmcid: PMC5346606.
• Abuodeh Y, Ahmed K, Echevarria M, Naghavi A, Grass GD, Robinson TJ, Tomblyn M, Shah B, Chavez J, Bello C, El-Haddad G, Harrison L, Kim S. Priming radioimmunotherapy with external beam radiation in patients with relapsed low grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Ther Adv Hematol. 2017 Apr.8(4):129-138. Pubmedid: 28491264. Pmcid: PMC5405899.
• Echevarria MI, Naghavi AO, Venkat PS, Abuodeh YA, Chevere C, Yamoah K. The impact of body mass index on dosimetric quality in low-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy. J Contemp Brachytherapy. 2016 Oct.8(5):386-390. Pubmedid: 27895679. Pmcid: PMC5116453.
• Naghavi AO, Echevarria MI, Grass GD, Strom TJ, Abuodeh YA, Ahmed KA, Kim Y, Trotti AM, Harrison LB, Yamoah K, Caudell JJ. Having Medicaid insurance negatively impacts outcomes in patients with head and neck malignancies. Cancer. 2016 Nov.122(22):3529-3537. Pubmedid: 27479362. Pmcid: PMC7810134.
• Naghavi AO, Strom TJ, Ahmed KA, Echevarria MI, Abuodeh YA, Venkat PS, Frakes JM, Harrison LB, Trotti AM, Caudell JJ. Management of Oropharyngeal Cancer in the HPV Era. Cancer Control. 2016 Jul.23(3):197-207. Pubmedid: 27556659.
• Naghavi AO, Echevarria MI, Strom TJ, Abuodeh YA, Ahmed KA, Venkat PS, Trotti A, Harrison LB, Green BL, Yamoah K, Caudell JJ. Treatment delays, race, and outcomes in head and neck cancer. Cancer Epidemiol. 2016 Dec.45:18-25. Pubmedid: 27664388.
• Ahmed KA, Abuodeh YA, Echevarria MI, Arrington JA, Stallworth DG, Hogue C, Naghavi AO, Kim S, Kim Y, Patel BG, Sarangkasiri S, Johnstone PA, Sahebjam S, Khushalani NI, Forsyth PA, Harrison LB, Yu M, Etame AB, Caudell JJ. Clinical outcomes of melanoma brain metastases treated with stereotactic radiosurgery and anti-PD-1 therapy, anti-CTLA-4 therapy, BRAF/MEK inhibitors, BRAF inhibitor, or conventional chemotherapy. Ann Oncol. 2016 Dec.27(12):2288-2294. Pubmedid: 27637745. Pmcid: PMC8890451.
• Eschrich SA, Fulp WJ, Pawitan Y, Foekens JA, Smid M, Martens JW, Echevarria M, Kamath V, Lee JH, Harris EE, Bergh J, Torres-Roca JF. Validation of a radiosensitivity molecular signature in breast cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2012 Sep.18(18):5134-5143. Pubmedid: 22832933. Pmcid: PMC3993974.