Explore the UF Health Cancer Institute’s 2020 Predoctoral Award recipients, highlighting the students selected for their promising cancer research including their mentor and dissertation title.
Biomedical Sciences Program – Cancer Biology
Chandler Callaway
Mentor: Andrew Judge, Ph.D.
Dissertation Title: “CXCL-CXCR2 Signaling Contributes to Muscle Wasting and Dysfunction During Pancreatic Cancer Cachexia”
Biomedical Sciences Program – Pharmacology & Therapeutics
Yang Feng
Mentor: Olga Guryanova, M.D., Ph.D.
Dissertation Title: “Clonal Hematopoiesis (CH) Impacts Colon Cancer by Modifying Anti-Cancer Immunity”
Mass Communication Program
Amanda Kastrinos
Mentors: Carma Bylund, Ph.D., and Carla Fisher, Ph.D.
Dissertation Title: “Parental disclosure, uncertainty, and disease trajectory in the coping experience of emerging adult cancer caregivers”
Clinical Pharmaceutical Sciences Program – Medicinal Chemistry
Kelton Schleyer
Mentor: Lina Cui, Ph.D.
Dissertation Title: “Development of an Imaging Toolkit for Heparanase Enzymatic Activity”
Biomedical Sciences Program – Cancer Biology
Vrunda Trivedi
Mentor: Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D.
Dissertation Title: “A Novel T-cell Engineering-based Immunotherapy Approach to Improve Antigen-mediated Response in the Tumor Microenvironment”
Biomedical Sciences Program – Cancer Biology
Zachary Wakefield
Mentor: Dietmar Siemann, Ph.D.
Dissertation Title: “The Physiologic Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Tumor Growth, Metastasis and Normal Tissue Toxicity to Chemotherapy”
