Career Enhancement Program

The MD Anderson Ovarian SPORE Career Enhancement Program (CEP) was designed to train and guide academic physician-scientists, clinician-investigators and laboratory-based researchers who wish to dedicate their efforts to translational research in the areas of diagnosis, prevention and treatment of ovarian cancer. We actively encourage minority and women faculty from participating institutions to apply for a CEP award. The specific objectives of the CEP are to:

• Recruit and train young physician-scientists, clinician-investigators, and laboratory-based researchers to become leaders in translational ovarian cancer research.
• Identify mentors in the laboratory and the clinic and form a mentoring team.
• Create an individualized mentoring plan for each Awardee.
• Provide dedicated time to perform clinically relevant laboratory research and hypothesis-driven clinical trials. 
• Provide support for translational research that will generate preliminary data and relevant publications for a full SPORE project or for peer-reviewed funding outside the SPORE mechanism.
• Mentor effectively and persistently those chosen for career development, proactively advocating for them in the ovarian cancer community.
• Offer educational experiences that address the unique needs of the awardees.

The SPORE Career Enhancement Awards involve up to two years of mentored research in ovarian cancer in which awardees learn through experience and their mentor to conduct a research project. Mentors are the co-project leaders of the SPORE. Awardees can obtain more formal training, including courses offered by the The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in molecular biology, genetics, biostatistics, epidemiology, physiology and pharmacology. Formal courses and coaching will be provided in writing grants and papers. CEP Awardees will attend all SPORE seminars. Each year they will attend national meetings (SGO, AACR, ASCO) where mentors will encourage networking.

Awardees can also participate in the MD Anderson K30 curriculum for clinical investigators and have the option to earn an M.S. or Ph.D. in patient-based biological research.
Please direct questions to Ersulan Hampton at 713-563-0639 or via email at ehampton@mdanderson.org.

Career Enhancement Awards

2020-2021

• Johannes Fahrmann, Ph.D.
  Instructor, Clinical Cancer Prevention
  Validation of a MYC-driven polyamine signature for detection of ovarian cancer

• Linghua Wang, M.D, Ph.D.
  Assistant Professor, Genomic Medicine
  Single-Cell Dissection of Tumor and Immune Cell Heterogeneity and interactions in High-grade Serous Ovarian Cancer

2019-2020

• Janice Santiago- O’Farrill, Ph.D.
  Post-doctoral Fellow, Experimental Therapeutics
  Crizotinib improves the therapeutic efficacy of olaparib in ovarian cancer

2017-2020

• Cristian Rodriguez-Aguayo, Ph.D.
  Instructor, Experimental Therapeutics
  Novel approaches for CRISPR CAS9/gRNA delivery

2017–2018

• Sharmistha Sarkar, Ph.D.
  Instructor, Genomic Medicine
  PRKCI as therapeutic target for immunotherapy in ovarian cancer

2013-2015

• Guang Peng, Ph.D.
  Assistant Professor, Clinical Cancer Prevention - Research
  Targeting ARID1A-deficiency in ovarian cancer
  
  
• Xiaojun Liu, Ph.D.
  Assistant Professor, Experimental Therapeutics
  Targeting BRCA1/2-deficient ovarian cancer with sapacitabine

2011-2013

• Alpa Nick, M.D.
  Assistant Professor, Gynecologic Oncology & Reproductive Medicine
  A novel breath-based bioassay for the detection of ovarian cancer
  
  
• Roel Verhaak, Ph.D.
  Assistant Professor, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
  Validating interagenic breakpoints in ovarian cancer

2009-2011

• Shannon Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D.
  Assistant Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Baylor College of Medicine
  Ovarian cancer, endometriosis, and epigenetics
  
  
• Junghae Suh, Ph.D.
  Assistant Professor, Bioengineering, Rice University
  Directed evolution of viral vectors for ovarian cancer treatment
  

2007-2009

• Michel Gilliet, M.D.
  Associate Professor, Immunology
  Role of plasmacytoid dendritic cells in the generation and maintenance of regulatory T cells in ovarian cancer
  
  
• Charles N. Landen, Jr., M.D.
  Assistant Professor, Gynecologic Oncology
  Characterization and therapeutic targeting of ovarian cancer stem cells

2005-2007

• Kwong Wong, Ph.D.
  Identification of Prognostic Markers and Therapeutic Targets for Low-grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma by Integration of High-Density SNP Array and Gene Expression Profiles
  
  
• Vikas Kundra, M.D., Ph.D.
  Imaging Ovarian Cancer Specific Gene Expression In Vivo

2002-2004

• Anil Sood, M.D.
  Functional Role of MMPs in Ovarian Tumor Cell Plasticity Properties
  
  
• Honami Naora, Ph.D.
  Targeting Mediators of Ovarian Cancer Metastasis by Applying a Cross-species Approach

2001-2002

• Rosemarie Schmandt, M.D.
  The Role of the SRC-related Kinase BRK, in the Pathogenesis of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer
  
  
• Jinsong Liu, M.D., Ph.D.
  In vitro Model for Hereditary Human Ovarian Cancer
  
  
• Zhen Fan, M.D.
  Exploration of Differential Signal Transduction Pathways Mediated by Akt1, Akt2 and Akt3 Oncogenes in Ovarian Cancer Models

2000-2001

• Renata Pasqualini, Ph.D.
  Modulation of the Extracellular Matrix as a Strategy Against Ovarian Cancer
  
  
• Karen Basen-Engquist, Ph.D.
  Pilot Test of a Physical Activity Intervention To Reduce Fatigue in Ovarian Cancer Survivors
  
  
• Zhen Fan, M.D.
  Exploration of Differential Signal Transduction Pathways Mediated by Akt1, Akt2 and Akt3 Oncogenes in Ovarian Cancer Models
  
  
• Jinsong Liu, M.D., Ph.D.
  In vitro Model for Hereditary Ovarian Cancer

1999-2000

• Yutaka Hasegawa, Ph.D.
  LPA Receptors: A new target for Ovarian Cancer Therapy?
  
  
• Chenyi Zhou, Ph.D.
  Sensitivity to Carboplatin and Paclitaxel Mediated by BRCA1 protein in Human Ovarian Cancer Cell Lines
  
  
• Binhua Zhou, Ph.D.
  HER-2/neu and p21Cip1/WAF1 in Ovarian Cancer