Several UF Health Cancer Center members and trainees were honored for their research during the University of Florida College of Medicine’s Celebration of Research, held Feb. 24-25.
Poster Awards
Leighton Elliott, M.D.
Leighton Elliott, M.D., an assistant professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology in the Department of Medicine, received an outstanding poster award in basic and translational sciences in the early-stage investigator category for his research, titled “Murine Metastatic Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma Survival Benefit and Immune Response with RNA-LPA Vaccine.”
Elliott, who is director of the AYA Cancer Program at UF Health, is a member of the UF Health Cancer Center’s Immuno-Oncology and Microbiome research program. Learn more about his career and research.
Katelyn Disler
Katelyn Disler, a biochemistry student in the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, won an outstanding poster award in clinical sciences in the undergraduate category for her research, titled “Association between Oral Health and Metabolic Syndrome in Cancer Survivors: Findings from the UK Biobank.” Disler conducts research with UF Health Cancer Center member Alex Yoon, Ph.D.
Faculty Honors
Robert McKenna, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and director of the Center for Structural Biology, won the Outstanding Research Scientist Award in Basic or Translational Sciences. McKenna studies adeno-associated virus, or AAV, to understand its molecular mechanisms, modulate the virus, and improve targeted gene therapy treatments. McKenna, who has been a faculty member at UF since 1999, is a member of the UF Health Cancer Center’s Mechanisms of Oncogenesis research program.
Watch a video about his research below:
