This program includes a roster of faculty with unique research interests and training expertise germane to the program, who are aligned in three research clusters.

Molecular Mechanisms of Cancer

Melike Caglayan, Ph.D
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Expertise: Oxidative Stress; DNA Damage & Repair

Shuang Huang, Ph.D.
Professor, Anatomy & Cell Biology
Expertise: Molecular Mechanisms of Cancer Metastasis

Jonathan D. Licht, M.D.
Professor, Medicine-Hematology/Oncology
Expertise: Aberrant Gene Regulation & Small Molecule Strategies for Gene Regulation

Bernadett Papp, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Oral Biology
Expertise: Genome-wide epigenetic mechanisms of reprogramming

Rolf Renne, Ph.D.
Professor, Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
Expertise: Kaposi’s Sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus & Virally-encoded microRNAs

Zsolt Toth, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Oral Biology
Expertise: Epigenetic Replication & Kaposi’s Sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus

Lizi Wu, Ph.D.
Professor, Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
Expertise: Molecular Regulation; Cell Signaling & Signal Transduction

Mingyi Xie, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Expertise: MiRNA Production & RNA Metabolism in Oncogenic Herpesvirus
Translational Cancer Therapeutics

Catherine Flores, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Neurosurgery
Expertise: Biological Interactions in Immunotherapy

Zhongwu Guo, Ph.D.
Professor, Chemistry
Expertise: Novel Synthetic Methodologies & Cancer Therapeutics

Olga Guryanova, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Pharmacology & Therapeutics
Expertise: Epigenetic & Chromatin Organization; Therapy Resistance & Clonal Evolution

Jeffrey Harrison, Ph.D.
Professor, Pharmacology & Therapeutics
Expertise: Chemokine Networks & Tumor-Immune Cell Interactions

Robert Huigens, III, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Medicinal Chemistry
Expertise: Medicinal Chemistry & Microbiology

Christian Jobin, Ph.D.
Professor, Medicine-Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
Expertise: Bacterial/Host Interactions & Immunological Responses

Hendrick Luesch, Ph.D.
Professor, Medicinal Chemistry
Expertise: Drug Design & Targeted Cancer Therapy

Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Neurosurgery
Expertise: Personalized Treatment Therapies & Immune Responses

Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Neurosurgery
Expertise: Brain Tumors; Immunotherapy

Dietmar Siemann, Ph.D.
Professor, Radiation Oncology
Expertise: Experimental Anticancer Therapies & Tumor Microenvironment

Maria Zajac-Kaye, Ph.D.
Professor, Anatomy & Cell Biology
Expertise: Therapeutic Targets in Oncogenic Transformation

Liang Zhou, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Infectious Diseases & Immunology
Expertise: Intestinal Immune Responses & Therapeutic Targets
Cancer Population Sciences

Jiang Bian, Ph.D.
Professor, Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics
Expertise: Data Science; Cancer Informatics & eHealth

Wesley E. Bolch, Ph.D.
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Expertise: Computational Medical Physics & Radiation Dose Assessment

Dejana Braithwaite, Ph.D.
Professor, Aging & Geriatric Research
Expertise: Health Disparities; Cancer & Aging; Cancer Epidemiology

Roger Fillingim, Ph.D.
Professor, Community Dentistry
Expertise: Pain & Psychosocial Factors; Ethnic & Racial Differences

Andrew Judge, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Physical Therapy
Expertise: Cancer Cachexia & Skeletal Muscle Atrophy

Benjamin Lok, Ph.D.
Professor, Computer & Information Science & Engineering
Expertise: Human-Centered Computing

Walter O’Dell, Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor, Radiation Oncology
Expertise: Image Analysis & Novel 3D Computational Detection Techniques

Janice Raup-Krieger, Ph.D.
Professor, Advertising
Expertise: Translational Communications & Health-Risk Messaging

Stephanie Staras, M.S.P.H., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics-Implementation Science
Expertise: Cancer Prevention & Control; Health Outcomes & Implementation Science

Diana Wilkie, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN
Professor, Biobehavioral Nursing Science
Expertise: Pain Management; Palliative & End-of-Life Care

Lusine Yaghjyan, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D
Associate Professor, Epidemiology
Expertise: Cancer Risk & Environmental Epidemiology