Mentors

A list of our participating faculty and their research are below. From this list, the students will submit their CV or resume, personal statement, top six ranked preferences for mentors, five key words, and a summary of overall research interest (one page). The student’s applications will then be reviewed and the students ranked; the top 25 students may be interviewed to determine the best possible student-mentor pairing based on research interest as well as personality and/or work style. The program directors will make the utmost effort to assign each student to the most appropriate mentor based on the students’ preferences and research interests with consideration of an even distribution of student researchers among program faculty. This system is adapted from a process to match students, research projects and faculty mentors used by the Cancer Prevention Research Trainee Program (CPRTP). Once the students are assigned to mentors, the list will be given to the executive committee for review. 

After the selections are finalized, a teleconference will be scheduled between the faculty member and student to discuss possible projects. During the ensuing months before the start of the summer program, a research agenda will be developed through a review of the pertinent related literature and dialogue between the student and mentor. A structured form will be given to each of the students to log the initial research topic(s), literature reviewed, summary of key points and formulation of hypotheses. 

Faculty Members

Swathi Arur Ph.D., Professor, Genetics
Chandra Bartholomeusz, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Breast Medical Oncology-Research 
Robert Bast M.D., Professor, Experimental Therapeutics 
Laura Beretta Ph.D., Professor, Molecular and Cellular Oncology 
Justin Bird M.D., Associate Professor, Orthopaedic Oncology 
Lauren Byers M.D., Associate Professor, Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology 
George Calin M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Translational Molecular Pathology
Ken Chen Ph.D., Professor, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology 
Caroline Chung, M.D., VP, Chief Data Officer Data Impact & Governance 
Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., Professor Integrative Medicine Rearch
Laurence Court, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Radiation Physics - Patient Care 
Michael Curran, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Immunology 
Ronald DePinho, M.D., Professor, Cancer Biology 
Scott Evans, M.D., Chair Ad Interim, Pulmonary Medicine 
David Fuentes, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Imaging Physics - Research 
David Fuller M.D., PhD, Professor, Radiation Oncology 
Varsha Gandhi, Ph.D., Chair Ad Interim, Experimental Therapeutics 
Sangeeta Goswami, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Genitourinary Medical Oncology 
Traver Hart, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology 
Jian Hu, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Cancer Biology 
Eugene Koay, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, GI Radiation Oncology 
Dimitrios Kontoyiannis, M.D., Professor Infectious Diseases 
Frederick Lang, M.D., Chair, Neurosurgery 
Valerae Lewis, M.D., Chair, Orthopaedic Oncology 
Sue-Hwa Lin, Ph.D., Professor, Translational Molecular Pathology
Guillermina Lozano, Ph.D., Chair, Genetics 
Joseph McCarty, Ph.D., Professor, Neurosurgery - Research 
Marites Melancon, Ph.D., Professor, Interventional Radiology 
Lavinia Middleton, M.D., Professor, Pathology, Anatomical 
Seyed Javad Moghaddam, M.D., Associate Professor, Pulmonary Medicine - Research 
Jeffrey Molldrem, M.D., Chair Ad Interim, Hematopoietic Biology & Malignancy 
Jeffrey Myers, M.D., Ph.D., Chair, Head & Neck Surgery 
Mark Pagel, Ph.D., Professor, Cancer Systems Imaging 
Nicolas Palaskas, M.D., Assistant Professor, Cardiology 
Curtis Pettaway, M.D., Professor, Urology 
Julianne Pollard-Larkin, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Radiation Physics - Patient Care 
Robert Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Orthopaedic Oncology 
Keri Schadler, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Pediatrics - Research 
Kathleen Schmeler, M.D., Professor, Gyn Onc & Reproductive Medicine 
Rahul Sheth, M.D., Assistant Professor, Interventional Radiology 
Alda Tam, M.D., Professor, Interventional Radiology
Cullen Taniguchi, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, GI Radiation Oncology 
David Tweardy, M.D., Division Head, Internal Medicine - Clinical 
Shannon Westin, M..D., Professor, Gyn Onc & Reproductive Medicine 
Melinda Yates, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Gynecologic Oncology & Reproductive Medicine-Research 
Haoqiang Ying, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Molecular & Cellular Oncology 
Di Zhao, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Experimental Radiation Oncology