Our Fellows
Our current and recently completed predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows represent a talented community of emerging scientists advancing research across the cancer prevention and control continuum, including prevention, early detection, treatment, survivorship and health disparities. Through mentored research and multidisciplinary training, fellows pursue innovative questions with the potential to reduce the burden of cancer and improve health outcomes in communities locally and beyond. Fellowship opportunities are supported through multiple funding mechanisms, including the NCI U54 Acres Homes Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowship Programs, previous funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), and generous philanthropic support through the Janice Davis Gordon Memorial in Colorectal Cancer Prevention and the Halliburton Employees Contribution Fund. Together, these investments provide promising researchers with the mentorship, resources and opportunities to advance meaningful science while preparing for the next stage of their careers in cancer research and prevention.
Current Fellows
Sara Nofal, M.D., Ph.D., M.Ed., is bringing the power of predictive analytics to one of colorectal cancer prevention’s most persistent challenges: helping people stay up to date with recommended screening. Awarded the Janice Davis Gordon Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowship in Colorectal Cancer Prevention, Nofal began her fellowship in August 2025 in the Department of Health Services Research, under the primary mentorship of Iakovos Toumazis and co-mentorship of Robert Volk. Her project, “Predictive Modeling of Adherence to Colorectal Cancer Screening,” applies machine learning and decision science to uncover patterns in screening behavior and identify individuals who may be at risk of falling outside recommended screening intervals. With interdisciplinary training spanning medicine, epidemiology, health promotion and behavioral sciences, health professions education, and data science, Nofal approaches cancer prevention from both the patient and analytical perspectives. Her research seeks to move beyond understanding who gets screened to anticipating where gaps in continued screening may occur, creating opportunities for more timely and personalized interventions. Through the Gordon Fellowship, Nofal is working to translate data into actionable strategies that can strengthen long-term screening adherence and ultimately help prevent colorectal cancer or detect it at its earliest, most treatable stages.
Yusi (Aveva) Xu, Ph.D., is a Janice Davis Gordon Memorial Postdoctoral Fellow in Colorectal Cancer Prevention in the Department of Health Disparities Research. Under the mentorship of Qian Lu and Eduardo Vilar-Sanchez, her fellowship research focuses on identifying the psychosocial needs of individuals and families affected by Lynch syndrome and developing patient-centered interventions to improve support, resilience and informed health decision-making. Xu earned dual bachelor’s degrees in journalism and international relations from Peking University, a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Ph.D. in health communication from the University of Southern California. She also completed a fellowship at Harvard University focused on social technology and health. An interdisciplinary health communication researcher, Xu integrates behavioral science with qualitative, quantitative and computational methods to investigate how communication, social relationships and digital environments shape health behaviors and outcomes. Through the Gordon Fellowship, she is applying this expertise to advance innovative and scalable approaches to colorectal cancer prevention, with a particular focus on individuals and families at increased hereditary cancer risk.
Cancer Prevention Fellows in Action
The CPRTP NCI R25T predoctoral and postdoctoral cohort of 2015–2018
Maggie Raber's research project is evaluating cooking and health for both adults at risk of cancer and in adult cancer survivors.
CPRIT postdoc Ivan Wu delivers a 90-second elevator speech during the 2018 CPRTP Summer Trainee Forum
CPRTP Postdoc (& new father) Nathan Parker gives his elevator speech via a pre-recorded video for the 2018 Summer Trainee Forum
CPRTP Halliburton postdoc Lewins Walter gives an elevator speech
CPRTP directors Carrie Cameron and Shine Chang present Georges Khalil, R25T Postdoc Fellow 2015–2017, a certificate of completion
Celebrating Our Most Recent Postdocs
These accomplished researchers completed fellowships within the last three years, advancing research across the cancer prevention and control continuum, including prevention, early detection, treatment, survivorship and health disparities, with support from the Halliburton Employees Contribution Fund, Janice Davis Gordon Memorial and CPRIT-funded training programs.
From advancing new approaches to colorectal cancer detection to launching his career as a faculty investigator, Abishai Dominic, Ph.D., represents the next generation of cancer prevention researchers. Dominic completed the Janice Davis Gordon Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowship in Colorectal Cancer Prevention in August 2025, conducting his research in the Department of Cancer Systems Imaging under the mentorship of Pratip Bhattacharya. His fellowship project, “Hyperpolarized Molecular Beacons for Early Detection & Prevention of Colorectal Cancer,” explored innovative molecular imaging strategies with the potential to identify colorectal cancer at its earliest stages. With training in imaging and biomedical sciences from Anna University in Chennai, India, and a Ph.D. in medical sciences from Texas A&M University College of Medicine, Dominic brought a multidisciplinary perspective to cancer prevention research. His work also investigated the innate immune functions of endothelial cells, extending the relevance of his research across cancer and cardiovascular medicine. Following completion of the Gordon Fellowship, Dominic reached an important career milestone, joining the UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry as an assistant professor. His advancement to faculty reflects the scientific promise, independence and leadership that the Gordon Fellowship seeks to cultivate in the next generation of cancer prevention researchers.
Anastasia Rogova, Ph.D., completed the Halliburton Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cancer Prevention in August 2025 in the Department of Health Services Research. Under the primary mentorship of Robert Volk and co-mentorship of Lorraine Reitzel, Isabel Martinez and Lisa Lowenstein, Rogova conducted the research project, “Shared Decision-Making for Lung Cancer Screening in Mental Health Care Settings: Intervention Adaptation and Acceptability Assessment.” Her fellowship research focused on improving cancer prevention and reducing tobacco-related health disparities among populations facing barriers to preventive care. Drawing on her training in anthropology and behavioral health research, Rogova examined patient, provider and healthcare system factors that influenced cancer prevention and screening. Through the Halliburton Fellowship, she worked to adapt and assess approaches to shared decision-making for lung cancer screening in mental health care settings, contributing to efforts to make evidence-based cancer prevention strategies more accessible and responsive to populations disproportionately affected by tobacco-related cancer.
As a native of Turkey, Fahriya Duzagac, Ph.D., originally joined UT MD Anderson in February 2018 and conducted ovarian cancer research in the Experimental Therapeutics in the cancer biology laboratory of Gabriel Lopez-Berestein. She completed an M.Sc. degree and Ph.D. degree in Stem Cell Biology at Ege University in Izmir, Turkey, and secured a fellowship from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), the United States NIH counterpart in Turkey. Duzagac also worked as a molecular science and nanosystems researcher at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy, where she focused on developing colorectal and ovarian cancer tumor microenvironment using organoid co-cultures on a microfluidic chip to test chemotherapy drugs' efficacy and model tumor development and metastasis. She is fluent in Turkish, Italian and English. Under the mentorship of Eduardo Vilar Sanchez in Clinical Cancer Prevention, her research project, "Role of Neoantigen-Specific T-Cell Receptor for Cancer Interception and Immune Monitoring of Lynch Syndrome," aimed to target tumor heterogeneity by understanding the role of cancer stem cells and immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. Duzagac continues her research at UT MD Anderson as a postdoctoral fellow.
Che Young 'Christine' Lee, Ph.D., previously worked on the Children's Obesity Research Demonstration (CORD) Project at the University of Houston, a large multi-site obesity prevention project, where she led the collection, management and analysis of data from over 2,000 children and families. Lee's dissertation project involved establishing a framework for evaluating self-report methods for estimating weight changes in individuals. Her project also resulted in three manuscripts. She holds an M.S. degree in exercise physiology from Seoul National University and a Ph.D. in kinesiology from the University of Houston. Under the mentorship of Karen Basen-Engquist in Behavioral Science, Lee's research focused on energy balance with an emphasis on how changes in physical activity may be related to health effects. Her project, "Exploring the Perceptions of Physical Activity and Weight Management in Metastatic Breast Cancer Survivorship", aimed to develop a survey tool for metastatic breast cancer patients to explore their needs, preferences and barriers to participating in physical activity and weight management.
Naomi Q. P. Tan, Ph.D., received a B.A. and M.A. in communications research from the National University of Singapore. She earned a Ph.D. in communications research from Ohio State University. Tan investigated the intersection of narrative persuasion and interpersonal communication in the domain of health. In particular, she began to amass a program of research investigating questions related to cancer screening interventions with Asian-Americans and experimental work assessing the effects of family health history narratives on family health information seeking and sharing. In her dissertation, Tan introduced and tested a model of narrative effects for cultural targeting. Her research aimed to capitalize on the strengths of narrative-based messages and integrated with culturally targeted messages, to understand how to motivate cancer screening behavior among Chinese Americans, specifically in colonoscopy. Robert Volk in Health Services Research served as her primary mentor on the project, "A Culturally Appropriate Narrative & Expressive Writing Intervention to Increase Smoking Cessation Intentions & Intentions to Engage in Lung Cancer Screening among Vietnamese American Men."