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.
UF Health Cancer Center Director and The Marshall E. Rinker Senior Chair
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.
Associate 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 and Scott Chair, Chemistry
Expertise: Novel Synthetic Methodologies & Cancer Therapeutics
Olga Guryanova, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Pharmacology and 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
Principal Investigator and Professor of Medicine, Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
Expertise: Bacterial/Host Interactions & Immunological Responses
Hendrik Luesch, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Drug Design & Targeted Cancer Therapy
Expertise: Drug Design & Targeted Cancer Therapy
Director – UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute; Assistant Vice
President for Research – University of Florida; Associate Dean – UF College of Medicine
Expertise: Personalized Treatment Therapies & Immune Responses
Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D.
Bonnie R. Freeman Professor for Pediatric Oncology Research; Assistant Dean
Expertise: Brain Tumors; Immunotherapy
Dietmar Siemann, Ph.D.
Professor, Radiation Oncology; Associate Director for Education and Training, UFHCC
Expertise: Experimental Anticancer Therapies & Tumor Microenvironment
Maria Zajac-Kaye, Ph.D.
Haskel Hess 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 and Division Director, Biomedical Informatics; Chief Data Scientist & Chief Information Officer, UF Health
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 and Division Chief, Population Health Sciences, Department of Surgery
Expertise: Health Disparities; Cancer & Aging; Cancer Epidemiology
Roger Fillingim, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness; Distinguished Professor, Community Dentistry
Expertise: Pain & Psychosocial Factors; Ethnic & Racial Differences
Andrew Judge, Ph.D.
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.
Associate Professor, Radiation Oncology
Expertise: Image Analysis & Novel 3D Computational Detection Techniques
Stephanie Staras, M.S.P.H., Ph.D.
Professor and Associate Chair of Faculty Development, HealthOutcomes & Biomedical Informatics-Implementation Science
Expertise: Cancer Prevention & Control; Health Outcomes & Implementation Science
Diana Wilkie, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN
Earl and Margo Powers Endowed Professor, Biobehavioral Nursing Science; Director, Center for Palliative Care Research & Education; Director, CaRE2 Health Equity Center
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
