Mihaela Druta, MD

I am a medical oncologist interested in improving the care and outcomes of patients with sarcomas. My areas of focus are clinical care of patients with sarcoma, conducting and developing clinical trials that will improve the outcome of patients with different subtypes of sarcomas and immunotherapy approach in the treatment of sarcomas. I am actively involved in conducting novel immunotherapy trials involving the T cell receptor (TCR) and other immunotherapeutic strategies. I was selected to participate in the first SITC Women in Cancer Immunotherapy Network (WIN) Leadership Institute. This is a unique program that explores topics that benefit female scientists as emerging leaders in the field of cancer immunotherapy. The program is designed to help women to develop and enhance their leadership skills, as well as explore topics around diversity and inclusivity. Female participants from industry, academia and the clinic will be given an opportunity to network with one another and share experiences unique to the female perspective in the field of cancer immunotherapy. Most recently I was selected to participate in the SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Network (SCION) Workshop working on an investigator initiated clinical trial involving T-Cell therapy for patients with different subtypes of sarcomas. I earned her MD degree from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, Romania. I completed an Internal Medicine Residency and Hematology/Medical Oncology Fellowship at the University of South Florida at Moffitt Cancer Center. I completed a Sarcoma Medical Oncology Fellowship (Willie Tichenor Sarcoma Fellowship) at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. Druta's clinical interest is in the development of clinical trials focusing on targeted therapeutics and immunotherapy approach specific to sarcoma patients. My research interest is in the translational aspects of sarcoma biology focusing specifically on Well-differentiated/Differential Liposarcoma, Myxoid Lipsarcoma, Synovial Sarcomas, GIST and Leiomyosarcoma. I am currently a member of several professional associations, including the American Association for Cancer Research, Connective Tissue Oncology Society, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Associations

• Sarcoma
• Immuno-Oncology Program

Education & Training

Board Certification:

• Internal Medicine - Medical Oncology
• Internal Medicine - Hematology

Fellowship:

• H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center - Hematology and Medical Oncology
• MD Anderson Cancer Center - Sarcoma Medical Oncology

Residency:

• University of South Florida - Internal Medicine

Medical School:

• University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davilla - MD

My areas of focus are clinical care of patients with sarcoma, conducting and developing clinical trials that will improve the outcome of patients with different subtypes of sarcomas and immunotherapy approach in the treatment of sarcomas.

Clinical Trial 22695
ADI-PEG 20 (Pegargiminase) or Placebo (PBO) plus Gemcitabine and Docetaxel in Previously Treated Subjects with Leiomyosarcoma (ARGSARC): A Randomized, Double-Blind, Multi-Center Phase 3 Trial
Condition: Sarcoma
Intervention: ADI-PEG 20 (); Gemzar (gemcitabine); Placebo (); Taxotere (docetaxel); docetaxel (); gemcitabine ()
Status: OPEN (SUSPENDED)

Clinical Trial 23228
An International, Phase 3, Randomized, Multicenter, Open-label Study of Ripretinib vs Sunitinib in Patients with Advanced Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST) with KIT Exon 11 and Co-occurring KIT Exons 17 and/or 18 Mutations Who Were Previously Treated with Imatinib (INSIGHT)
Condition: Sarcoma
Intervention: DCC-2618 (Ripretinib); Ripretinib (); Sunitinib ()
Status: Open

If you believe you are eligible for one of these trials or studies, please call
813-745-6100 or toll-free 1-800-679-0775.

• Soupir A, Ospina OE, Hampton O, Churchman M, Radmacher M, Hedges D, McKean D, Agius P, Zeeshan S, Seligson ND, Pollock R, Liebner D, Chen JL, Tinoco G, Salhia B, McCarter M, Wilky BA, Miller BJ, Cavnar MJ, Groundland JS, Schneider BP, Riedlinger G, Edge SB, Moskaluk CA, Cardona K, Naqash AR, Gonzalez RJ, Mullinax JE, Joyce DM, Binitie O, Douglas Letson G, Naghavi AO, Druta M, Reed DR, Siegel EM, Teer JK, Fridley BL, Brohl AS. Genomic, transcriptomic, and immunogenomic landscape of over 1300 sarcomas of diverse histology subtypes. Nat Commun. 2025 May.16(1):4206. Pubmedid: 40328759. Pmcid: PMC12055966.
• D'Angelo SP, Druta M, Van Tine BA, Liebner D, Schuetze SM, Tap WD, Preston J, Goodison S, D'Souza JW, Kapoor GS, Suchindran S, Zajic S, Bhaskar A, Kaczynski H, Kim J, Klohe E, Corigliano E, Eleftheriadou I, Nathenson MJ, Somaiah N. Letetresgene Autoleucel in Advanced/Metastatic Myxoid/Round Cell Liposarcoma. J Clin Oncol. 2025 May.43(15):1777-1788. Pubmedid: 39836945. Pmcid: PMC12084024.
• Bryant JM, Mills MN, Liveringhouse C, Palm R, Druta M, Brohl A, Reed DR, Johnstone PA, Miller JT, Latifi K, Feygelman V, Yang GQ, Naghavi AO. Hypofractionated accelerated radiation dose-painting (HARD) improves outcomes in unresected soft-tissue sarcoma. Radiother Oncol. 2025 Jan.202:110644. Pubmedid: 39571685.
• Garg A, Pena L, Lauwers GY, Druta M, Kis B. Radioembolization of Primary Splenic Angiosarcoma Complicated by Delayed Gastric Hemorrhage. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2025 Jan.36(1):187-189.e1. Pubmedid: 39357601.
• Heinrich MC, Jones RL, George S, Gelderblom H, Schöffski P, von Mehren M, Zalcberg JR, Kang YK, Razak AA, Trent J, Attia S, Le Cesne A, Siontis BL, Goldstein D, Boye K, Sanchez C, Steeghs N, Rutkowski P, Druta M, Serrano C, Somaiah N, Chi P, Reichmann W, Sprott K, Achour H, Sherman ML, Ruiz-Soto R, Blay JY, Bauer S. Ripretinib versus sunitinib in gastrointestinal stromal tumor: ctDNA biomarker analysis of the phase 3 INTRIGUE trial. Nat Med. 2024 Feb.30(2):498-506. Pubmedid: 38182785. Pmcid: PMC10878977.
• D'Angelo SP, Araujo DM, Abdul Razak AR, Agulnik M, Attia S, Blay JY, Carrasco Garcia I, Charlson JA, Choy E, Demetri GD, Druta M, Forcade E, Ganjoo KN, Glod J, Keedy VL, Le Cesne A, Liebner DA, Moreno V, Pollack SM, Schuetze SM, Schwartz GK, Strauss SJ, Tap WD, Thistlethwaite F, Valverde Morales CM, Wagner MJ, Wilky BA, McAlpine C, Hudson L, Navenot JM, Wang T, Bai J, Rafail S, Wang R, Sun A, Fernandes L, Van Winkle E, Elefant E, Lunt C, Norry E, Williams D, Biswas S, Van Tine BA. Afamitresgene autoleucel for advanced synovial sarcoma and myxoid round cell liposarcoma (SPEARHEAD-1): an international, open-label, phase 2 trial. Lancet. 2024 Apr.403(10435):1460-1471. Pubmedid: 38554725.
• Gelderblom H, Jones RL, Blay JY, George S, von Mehren M, Zalcberg JR, Kang YK, Razak AA, Trent J, Attia S, Le Cesne A, Siontis BL, Goldstein D, Boye K, Sanchez C, Steeghs N, Rutkowski P, Druta M, Serrano C, Somaiah N, Chi P, Harrow B, Becker C, Reichmann W, Sherman ML, Ruiz-Soto R, Heinrich MC, Bauer S. Patient-reported outcomes and tolerability in patients receiving ripretinib versus sunitinib after treatment with imatinib in INTRIGUE, a phase 3, open-label study. Eur J Cancer. 2023 Oct.192:113245. Pubmedid: 37598656.
• Miao R, Swank J, Melzer D, Ludlow S, Clark L, Finger M, Reed DR, Druta M, Brohl AS. Anti-PD-1 therapy in advanced sarcomas: is cutaneous primary site a stronger predictor of response than histologic subtype?. Cancer Immunol Immun. 2023 Jul.72(7):2521-2527. Pubmedid: 36912932. Pmcid: PMC10264480.
• Hong DS, Van Tine BA, Biswas S, McAlpine C, Johnson ML, Olszanski AJ, Clarke JM, Araujo D, Blumenschein GR, Kebriaei P, Lin Q, Tipping AJ, Sanderson JP, Wang R, Trivedi T, Annareddy T, Bai J, Rafail S, Sun A, Fernandes L, Navenot JM, Bushman FD, Everett JK, Karadeniz D, Broad R, Isabelle M, Naidoo R, Bath N, Betts G, Wolchinsky Z, Batrakou DG, Van Winkle E, Elefant E, Ghobadi A, Cashen A, Grand'Maison A, McCarthy P, Fracasso PM, Norry E, Williams D, Druta M, Liebner DA, Odunsi K, Butler MO. Autologous T cell therapy for MAGE-A4+ solid cancers in HLA-A*02+ patients: a phase 1 trial. Nat Med. 2023 Jan.29(1):104-114. Pubmedid: 36624315. Pmcid: PMC9873554.
• Fu Z, Henderson-Jackson EB, Centeno BA, Lauwers GY, Druta M, Anaya DA, Nakanishi Y. A Case of Hepatic Malignant Solitary Fibrous Tumor: A Case Report and Review of the Literature. Case Rep Pathol. 2023 Feb.2023:2271690. Pubmedid: 36817074. Pmcid: PMC9935885.
• Gyurdieva A, Zajic S, Chang YF, Houseman EA, Zhong S, Kim J, Nathenson M, Faitg T, Woessner M, Turner DC, Hasan AN, Glod J, Kaplan RN, D'Angelo SP, Araujo DM, Chow WA, Druta M, Demetri GD, Van Tine BA, Grupp SA, Fine GD, Eleftheriadou I. Biomarker correlates with response to NY-ESO-1 TCR T cells in patients with synovial sarcoma. Nat Commun. 2022 Sep.13(1):5296. Pubmedid: 36075914. Pmcid: PMC9458750.
• Lewis JH, Gelderblom H, van de Sande M, Stacchiotti S, Healey JH, Tap WD, Wagner AJ, Pousa AL, Druta M, Lin CC, Baba HA, Choi Y, Wang Q, Shuster DE, Bauer S. Pexidartinib Long-Term Hepatic Safety Profile in Patients with Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumors. Oncologist. 2021 May.26(5):e863-e873. Pubmedid: 33289960. Pmcid: PMC8100574.
• Robinson LA, Babacan NA, Tanvetyanon T, Henderson-Jackson E, Bui MM, Druta M. Results of treating primary pulmonary sarcomas and pulmonary carcinosarcomas. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2021 Jul.162(1):274-284. Pubmedid: 32711968.
• Afiat TP, Johns C, Smith J, Kis B, Druta M. Adrenal crisis and death following transarterial chemoembolization of sarcoma liver metastases. Clin Imaging. 2021 Jan.69:79-81. Pubmedid: 32693227.
• Krzyston H, Morse B, Deperalta D, Rishi A, Kayaleh R, El-Haddad G, Smith J, Druta M, Kis B. Liver-directed treatments of liver-dominant metastatic leiomyosarcoma. Diagn Interv Radiol. 2020 Sep.26(5):449-455. Pubmedid: 32673206. Pmcid: PMC7490031.
• Lee DH, Armanious M, Huang J, Jeong D, Druta M, Fradley MG. Case of pembrolizumab-induced myocarditis presenting as torsades de pointes with safe re-challenge. J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2020 Sep.26(6):1544-1548. Pubmedid: 32089073.
• Somaiah N, Chawla SP, Block MS, Morris JC, Do K, Kim JW, Druta M, Sankhala KK, Hwu P, Jones RL, Gnjatic S, Kim-Schulze S, Tuballes K, Yishak M, Lu H, Yakovich A, Ter Meulen J, Chen M, Kenney RT, Bohac C, Pollack SM. A Phase 1b Study Evaluating the Safety, Tolerability, and Immunogenicity of CMB305, a Lentiviral-Based Prime-Boost Vaccine Regimen, in Patients with Locally Advanced, Relapsed, or Metastatic Cancer Expressing NY-ESO-1. Oncoimmunology. 2020 Nov.9(1):1847846. Pubmedid: 33312760. Pmcid: PMC7714520.
• Rizk VT, Naghavi AO, Brohl AS, Joyce DM, Binitie O, Kim Y, Hanna JP, Swank J, Gonzalez RJ, Reed DR, Druta M. Chemotherapy improves distant control in localized high-grade soft tissue sarcoma of the extremity/trunk. Clin Sarcoma Res. 2020 Jul.10:11. Pubmedid: 32670544. Pmcid: PMC7350709.
• Pollack SM, Somaiah N, Araujo DM, Druta M, Van Tine BA, Burgess MA, Chawla SP, Seetharam M, Okuno SH, Bohac C, Chen M, Yurasov S, Attia S. Clinical outcomes of patients with advanced synovial sarcoma or myxoid/round cell liposarcoma treated at major cancer centers in the United States. Cancer Med. 2020 Jul.9(13):4593-4602. Pubmedid: 32374488. Pmcid: PMC7333839.
• Ramachandran I, Lowther DE, Dryer-Minnerly R, Wang R, Fayngerts S, Nunez D, Betts G, Bath N, Tipping AJ, Melchiori L, Navenot JM, Glod J, Mackall CL, D'Angelo SP, Araujo DM, Chow WA, Demetri GD, Druta M, Van Tine BA, Grupp SA, Abdul Razak AR, Wilky B, Iyengar M, Trivedi T, Winkle EV, Chagin K, Amado R, Binder GK, Basu S. Systemic and local immunity following adoptive transfer of NY-ESO-1 SPEAR T cells in synovial sarcoma. J Immunother Cancer. 2019 Oct.7(1):276. Pubmedid: 31651363. Pmcid: PMC6813983.
• Bridge JA, Sumegi J, Druta M, Bui MM, Henderson-Jackson E, Linos K, Baker M, Walko CM, Millis S, Brohl AS. Clinical, pathological, and genomic features of EWSR1-PATZ1 fusion sarcoma. Mod Pathol. 2019 Nov.32(11):1593-1604. Pubmedid: 31189996.
• Boddu S, Walko CM, Bienasz S, Bui MM, Henderson-Jackson E, Naghavi AO, Mullinax JE, Joyce DM, Binitie O, Letson GD, Gonzalez RJ, Reed DR, Druta M, Brohl AS. Clinical Utility of Genomic Profiling in the Treatment of Advanced Sarcomas: A Single-Center Experience. JCO Precis Oncol. 2018 Nov.2:1-8. Pubmedid: 35135155.
• Pham V, Henderson-Jackson E, Doepker MP, Caracciolo JT, Gonzalez RJ, Druta M, Ding Y, Bui MM. Practical Issues for Retroperitoneal Sarcoma. Cancer Control. 2016 Jul.23(3):249-264. Pubmedid: 27556665.
• Dossett LA, Toloza EM, Fontaine J, Robinson LA, Reed D, Druta M, Letson DG, Zager JS, Gonzalez RJ. Outcomes and clinical predictors of improved survival in a patients undergoing pulmonary metastasectomy for sarcoma. J Surg Oncol. 2015 Jul.112(1):103-106. Pubmedid: 26179670.
• Liu JJ, Druta M, Shibata D, Coppola D, Boler I, Elahi A, Reich RR, Siegel E, Extermann M. Metabolic syndrome and colorectal cancer: is hyperinsulinemia/insulin receptor-mediated angiogenesis a critical process?. Geriatr Oncol. 2014 Jan.5(1):40-48. Pubmedid: 24484717. Pmcid: PMC4527303.
• Helm J, Centeno B, Coppola D, Druta M, Park J, Chen D, Hodul P, Kvols LK, Yeatman T, Carey L, Karl R, Malafa M. Outcomes following resection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma: 20-year experience at a single institution. Cancer Control. 2008 Oct.15(4):288-294. Pubmedid: 18813196.
• Jacobsen PB, Shibata D, Siegel EM, Druta M, Lee JH, Marshburn J, Davenport L, Cruse H, Levine R, Gondi A, Brown R, Malafa M. Measuring quality of care in the treatment of colorectal cancer: the moffitt quality practice initiative. J Oncol Pract. 2007 Mar.3(2):60-65. Pubmedid: 20859375. Pmcid: PMC2793747.