TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship Program Alumni

Dr. Ayoub earned his B.S. in Biology from Long Island University (Brooklyn, NY). He later earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. (2019) - both in Pharmacology,  from the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. His thesis work, supervised by Dr. Archibald Perkins, was titled "The role of EVI1 in hematopoietic stem cell differentiation and leukemia." In 2018, he was awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA) F31 fellowship from the NIH/NHLBI for his work on EVI1 in hematopoiesis. Dr. Ayoub joined the TRIUMPH Program in Fall 2019.  While a TRIUMPH Fellow, Edward was awarded an F32 fellowship to support his research. Edward's research focuses on investigating the correlation between minimal residual disease and the chemotherapy resistance in high risk AML.Following the TRIUMPH program, Edward has stayed on as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Andreeff lab.

Dr. Edward Ayoub's Publication History:
PubMed Author Link
ORCiD: 0000-0003-1321-0114

Dr. Bildik received her B.S. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Istanbul University in Turkey. She earned her M.S. in Reproductive Biology from Koc University, where she trained in a translational research laboratory and focused on fertility preservation strategies against ovarian damage induced by chemotherapy and radiation in young female cancer survivors. She received her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Medicine from Koc University and completed her thesis, titled "DNA damage-induced and TAp63-mediated oocyte apoptosis is not associated with c-Abl activation in human ovary." Dr. Bildik joined MD Anderson Cancer Center as a TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellow in 2019. While part of the TRIUMPH program, Dr. Bildik's research project focused on better understanding the role of DIRAS3-mediated autophagy and the effect of DIRAS3 peptides on autophagy inhibition in kRAS-driven cancers. The ultimate goal was to understand autophagy-mediated drug resistance and seek more effective therapeutic interventions.

When asked about her experience with the TRIUMPH program, Dr. Bildik Elcik stated, "The rich training environment provided by the TRIUMPH program was thought-provoking and helped me to develop new perspectives and expanded my professional network. I believe as you broaden your horizons with the wide spectrum of ongoing research and the continuous interaction of trainees, mentors, and committee members; you’re guaranteed to improve, grow and change as a researcher. Acquiring new theoretical knowledge with courses provided as well as gaining experience with clinical rotations consistently evolved the way I think as a researcher with a basic science background. I always felt the TRIUMPH program valued and supported each and every trainee in a very unique way to reach their own goals and maximum potential."

Dr. Bildek Elcik's Publication History:
PubMed Author Link
ORCiD: 0000-0002-7596-2381

Dr. Fuentes earned his B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Texas A&M Corpus Christi and his Ph.D. in Toxicology from Texas A&M University, where his work under Dr. Robert S. Chapkin. His graduate research on "Plasma membrane lipid therapy: Disruption of oncogenic RAS driven phenotypes by membrane targeted dietary bioactives (MTDBS)" provided the foundation for his T32-funded postdoctoral fellowship in the Chapkin Lab. Robert joined the TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Houston in January 2020. As a participant in the TRIUMPH program, Dr. Fuentes' research focused on identfying novel mitochondrial- and plasma membrane-based therapeutic targets in pancreatic cancer. The ultimate goal was to develop membrane-based intervention strategies that improve clinical outcomes in patients.

"I would not be in the position I am today without the world-class training and mentorship I received from the TRIUMPH program. The personalized training environment created from combining clinical/translational research, stimulating course work, networking opportunities and the targeted guidance of vested mentors allowed me to maximize my potential and grow as a scientist. This diverse translational focused training paired with the collaborative networks I have established has placed me in a unique position to lead my own independent translational research program focused on improving outcomes for patients afflicted with cancer."

Dr. Fuentes was promoted to Assistant Professor in the Department of Cancer Biology in 2023. 

Dr. Fuentes' Publication History
PubMed Author Link
ORCiD: 0000-0001-9571-808X

Dr. Kettner earned her Bachelor's degree from Winona State University, where her senior undergraduate research project studied the mechanism of Sbp1p mediated translational repression in S. cerevisiae under the mentorship of Dr. Scott Segal. She continued on to earn her Ph.D. at Baylor College of Medicine in Dr. Loning Fu's laboratory. Here, Dr. Kettner studied the role of the mammalian circadian clock in metabolism and tumor suppression. She completed a short postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Fu's laboratory to complete a project focused on the role of circadian disruption in metabolic syndrome-induced spontaneous hepatocarcinogenesis before coming to MD Anderson Cancer Center via the TRIUMPH Program. Dr. Kettner focuses on identifying the biological mechanism(s) of the resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors and works to identify independent biomarkers that are predictive of response and/or resistance. 

Dr. Kettner explains, "The TRIUMPH Program provided me with an incredibly rich training environment encompassing a wide range of research from the most basic to cutting edge clinical trials. With the expertise of my mentor and committee members, who are a diverse mixture of basic, translational, and physician scientists, I guided my research project from bench to bedside for development of a clinical trial."

Dr. Kettner now works as a Research Program Manager at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Kettner's Publication History:
PubMed Author Link
ORCiD: 0000-0003-2043-4407

Dr. Lu received his BS in Biotechnology from the College of Life Science at Beijing Normal University and his PhD in Developmental Biology from that Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. His PhD work was completed under the mentorship of Dr. Hongmei Wang. Dr. Lu joined MD Anderson in 2018 as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology and under the mentorship of Dr. Pawel K. Mazur. He joined the TRIUMPH program in late 2018. During the TRIUMPH program, Dr. Lu's research project focused on generating next-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer, proposing the strategy of "armoring" CAR-T cells with genetic modifications to establish a long-lasting response against the tumor.

Dr. Lu notes, “One thing so unique about the TRIUMPH program is that it empowers you to take graduate courses and to build up a panel of world-class experts as the committee. This supplies the postdoctoral trainee with a "back-to-school" refreshment and a closer look at the current leading edge of science.”

Dr. Lu's Publication History:
PubMed Author Link
ORCiD: 0000-0002-9244-325X

Dr. Napoli earned his B.S. in Biotechnology from the University of Palermo and his M.D. and Ph.D. in Molecular Biomedicine from the University of Triste in his home country of Italy. During his Ph.D., Dr. Napoli contributed to several projects unveiling the mechanism of action of many breast cancer-promoting factors impinging on the p53 family. His work led to the identification of an innovative method for the prognosis of breast cancer (European Patent Office #2012738204). Specifically, he investigates the mechanisms underlying mutant p53 gain of function, focusing on factors that might link cancer-related signaling with mutant p53 activity. He demonstrated that this link is provided by an enzyme, the prolyl isomerase Pin1, which enhances tumorigenesis in a Li-Fraumeni mouse model and cooperates with mutant p53 in Ras-dependent cell transformation. In human breast cancer cells, Pin1 promotes both mutant p53-dependent inhibition of the anti-metastatic factor p63 and the induction of a mutant p53 transcriptional program to increase tumor aggressiveness. Dr. Napoli also identified a group of 10 genes (the "Pin1/mutant p53 signature") that is associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer and, in a cohort of patients, Pin1 over-expression influences the prognostic value of p53 mutation. Considering that TP53 mutation is more frequent in tumors with higher risk of recurrence such as triple negative cases and that some of the Pin1/mutant p53 signature genes are over-expressed in triple negative breast cancers, these findings carry therapeutic implications for these kinds of cancers and possibly also for other tumors bearing mutant p53 and high levels of Pin1.

In 2014, Dr. Napoli joined the TRIUMPH program under the mentorship of Dr. Elsa Flores, where he studied micro-RNAs that mediate therapeutic efficacy of HDAC inhibitors in cancers, work that earned him a Cancer Cell publication in 2016. The goal of his project as a TRIUMPH postdoctoral fellow was to identify small molecules able to target ΔNp63, an oncogenic member of the p53 family that acts as a dominant negative towards its family members, thus effectively treating ΔNp63-addicted tumors. By performing a chemical library screen, Dr. Napoli identified HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) as a class of agents that reduce ΔNp63 protein stability through the E3 ubiquitin ligase, Fbxw7. This in turn decreases the levels of the ΔNp63 direct target gene, DGCR8, and the maturation of a specific set of miRNAs critical for the function of HDACi. Notably, the viability of cancer cells with p53 mutations and their ability to form tumors in vivo were curbed by treatment with either HDACi or inhibitors of the identified miRNAs, let-7d and miR-128. Importantly, these results demonstrated that: 1) Fbxw7 is a crucial marker predicting responsiveness of human tumors to HDACi-based therapies; and 2) tumor resistance to HDACi can be overcome by targeting let-7d and miR-128. Dr. Napoli moved to Moffitt Cancer Center with the Flores laboratory in 2016.

Of our program, Dr. Napoli says "The TRIUMPH program gave me the great opportunity to deepen my knowledge of translational cancer research and to establish collaborations with several clinicians both at MD Anderson Cancer Center and at Moffitt Cancer Center, whose invaluable insights have helped me in guaranteeing that my findings may have a positive impact for the management of cancer patients."

Dr. Napoli's Publication History:
PUBMED Author Link
ORCiD: 0000-0001-7192-5252

Dr. Orozco received his B.Sc. in Microbiology and Molecular/Cellular Genetics from California State University at Long Beach (Long Beach, CA) and continued on to earn his Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX) in Immunology. He joined the TRIUMPH program in 2011 under the mentorship of Dr. Robert Bast, Jr. and studied VEGF, IGF, and IL-8 as novel therapeutic targets in tumor cell dormancy in ovarian cancer. 

After TRIUMPH, Dr. Orozco served as Senior Research Scientist at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he led flow cytometry operations to characterize and monitor CD19- and CD33- CAR T cells for clinical trials. He currently serves as Director of Flow Cytometry for the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine.

Of his experience in the TRIUMPH program, he says "The TRIUMPH program helped me to understand the gap between basic research and clinical needs. I was honored and excited to have the opportunity to perform translational research that could potentially be applied to our cancer patients." 

Dr. Orozco's Publication History:
PUBMED Author Link

Dr. Park earned her BS in Chemistry from the University of Oklahoma and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology from John Hopkins University. Her Ph.D. project, under the mentorship of  Dr. Andrew Holland, focused on understanding the role of splicing factors in centriole duplication. As a native Houstonian, Liz moved home to join the TRIUMPH program for her postdoctoral fellowship training in 2020. 

As a TRIUMPH Fellow, Dr. Park was awarded an F32 and her research project focused on identifying how the gut microbiome affects response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB)therapy and ICB-induced toxicity.

Dr. Park is currently a medical student at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Park's Publication History:
PUBMED Author Link

Dr. Pickering earned his B.S. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from Michigan State University. He pursued his graduate degree at University of California - San Francisco, where he received his Ph.D. in Cell Biology for his research aimed at understanding the early events in breast carcinogenesis by studying the consequences of p16INK4a inactivation in primary human mammary epithelial cells. He joined the TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2008 and completed his research on the integrated genomic analysis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma under the mentorship of Dr. Jeffrey Myers at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he later earned a faculty position. Dr. Pickering helped lead the first whole exome and integrated genomic studies of head and neck cancer and participated in the subsequent and larger-scale head and neck cancer genomics project from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).

As an Associate Professor at Yale College of Medicine, Dr. Pickering continues his research on the translational genomics of head and neck cancer. His research goal is to improving the treatment of head and neck cancer by understanding the genomic alterations that drive the disease. His translational research laboratory utilizes patient samples, patient study data, computational tools, functional genomics, and relevant in vitro and in vivo model systems to characterize genomic alterations and understand their relevance to tumor progression and treatment response. By integrating data across platforms and models their studies span nearly the entire translational spectrum from bedside to bench and back.

Dr. Pickering explains “For me the most eye-opening part of the TRIUMPH program was the clinical rotations. They taught me how to communicate and work with physicians and design better translational studies. It was very important for me to see first-hand how patients are treated by physicians. First, I learned the uniqueness of each patient and their own individual disease and treatment path. This demonstrated that any study involving patients will have much more variability than a lab-based study, and there are many more uncontrolled variables in the clinic, so it is inherently more difficult to study patients and patient samples. Second, I learned about the priorities and time-constrains of physicians. Their top priority is the patient, not my research project or even their own research project. Additionally, their options in treating that patient are often limited by practical and ethical concerns. In many instances, the best experimental design cannot actually be performed because the patient has to be treated in a certain way that is in compatible with the research study plan. The ideal translational research project is not only scientifically sound but also clinically feasible, relevant to the treatment of your specific disease, and has a clear translational path to improving patient care. Lots of interesting studies are not realistic or translational.”

Dr. Pickering's Publication History:
PubMed Author Link
ORCiD: 0000-0003-2043-4407

Dr. Puig earned her Bachelor's in Life Science and Biology with high honors from Universite Paul Sabatier and her Master's degree in Life Science with a neuroscience focus from Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in France. She received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology from Universite Paris Descartes in Paris, France under the mentorship of Dr. Florence Noble. Her doctoral research focused on analyzing the behavioral, neurochemical, and cellular effects of cocaine in the brain. Dr. Puig's work and hypothesis were inspired by observations from clinicians working in collaboration with her, who suggested that the treatment of addiction to cocaine should be adapted according to the pattern of cocaine consumption of each patient. Dr. Puig's work lead to three major discoveries:
1) Different patterns of administration of cocaine lead to very different behavioral, neurochemical and cellular modifications in the brain of rats.
2) She revealed the existence of a neurochemical memory in the brain, related to the pattern of administration of cocaine. This neurochemical memory is characterized by changes in dopamine levels (using in vivo microdialysis) in the nucleus accumbens (a core nucleus of the reward system), at the moment when rats were used to receive the drug.
3) The pattern of administration also induces different changes in the levels of Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) in the blood and in the brain structures involved in addiction. Variations of BDNF in the blood correlate to variations in the brain which suggested that the BDNF could be a good biomarker for addiction.

Dr. Puig continued her interest in neuroscience and opioid research as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Howard B. Gutenstein in 2013 and joined the TRIUMPH program in early 2015. Her postdoctoral research focused on understanding the involvement of growth factor signaling in opioid-mediated analgesic tolerance. They showed that Imatinib, a platelet-derived growth factor receptor beta (PDGFR-β) inhibitor, could completely prevent and reverse morphine-mediated analgesic tolerance. Importantly, they discovered that the PDGFR-β ligand, the platelet-derived growth factor type B (PDGF-B) is necessary and sufficient to cause morphine tolerance. Blocking the release of PDGF-B completely prevents tolerance and administration of PDGF-B causes tolerance in rats that had never received morphine before. 

Her work extended these findings to other growth factors (Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), Sonic Hedgehog (SHh) and Vascular Endothelial Growth factor (VEGF)). Using the most advanced methods in microscopy and neuroanatomy, she was able to characterize the presence of these growth factors and their receptors in the neuronal network that conveys pain, morphine analgesia and tolerance. Using a behavioral and a pharmacological approach, she provided evidence that blocking the signaling of these proteins can robustly preserve morphine efficiency over time and therefore block tolerance. Importantly, Dr. Puig also found that growth factors signaling is a core mechanism for tolerance to other opioids used in the clinic. Noteworthy, several growth factor inhibitors that she showed block tolerance are FDA approved and are commonly used as chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer. These drugs are already known to be tolerated by humans, which means that they could be rapidly approved for the treatment of chronic pain. 

Of the TRIUMPH Program, Dr. Puig notes "The course I took increased my knowledge on Human Pathophysiology and provided a better insight on how research can be more relevant to clinic. It also gave me the opportunity to meet some brilliant TRIUMPH fellows and mentors. They are now part my professional network which is a very good asset for support and advice to my career."

Dr. Puig's Publication History:
PubMed Author Link
ORCiD: 0000-0001-7200-1094

Dr. Shrestha earned his B.S. in Microbiology and his M.S. in Biotechnology from Tribhuvan University in Nepal. He earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Louisville in Kentucky. His postdoc research examines the modulation of innate and adaptive immune responses in the tumor microenvironment in the Osteosarcoma lung metastasis model. Currently Dr. Shrestha is an Odyssey Fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. 

Dr. Shrestha's Publication History:
PubMed Author Link
ORCiD: 0000-0003-3418-6790

Dr. Wu received her Bachelor's in Pharmacy and her Ph.D. from University of Queensland in Australia. Her Ph.D. work focused on developing novel delivery systems for E6 and E7 targeted siRNA for cervical cancer therapies and involved developing a novel approach to formulate liposomal nanoparticles as well as studying the effects of silencing E6/7 on cervical cancer growth both in vitro and in vivo. Dr. Wu joined MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2011 as a Postdoctoral Fellow and led a project focused on understanding the role(s) of non-coding RNAs in tumor angiogenesis and developed novel therapeutic approaches to inhibit tumor angiogenesis. In collaboration with an industry partner, she also developed a novel method to significantly enhance the potency of siRNA therapeutics in ovarian cancer. Dr. Wu has a robust and prolific publishing record from her time at MD Anderson and in the CPRIT TRIUMPH Program.

Following her TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dr. Wu was appointed Research Assistant Professor at MD Anderson, where she continued her work in ovarian cancer. She recently moved home to her native Australia, where she directs the Cancer Therapeutics laboratory and serves on the faculty at University of Queensland. Her research interests focus on developing effective strategies for the detection and treatment of ovarian and breast cancers and to translate these research findings into the clinic. Her current focuses are in harnessing the immune system for cancer therapy, tumor-targeted drug delivery systems, and examining the role(s) of exosomes in cancer progression. Through her active collaboration with clinicians in local hospitals, she continuously addresses research questions that matter the most for cancer patients.

Dr. Wu believes that her participation in the TRIUMPH program has been instrumental in her career success. She explains "The TRIUMPH program has helped me tremendously in terms of shaping up my career path. I have learned so much from the program. This includes knowledge related to clinical translation that I would not have gained if I did a normal, traditional postdoctoral fellowship. TRIUMPH program also significantly expanded my professional network and allowed me to establish new research collaborations with physicians to solve clinically important questions. The support I obtained from the TRIUMPH program did not stop when I finished the program. The TRIUMPH program very much focuses on the fellows' career development and I would not be where I am today if I were not a TRIUMPH fellow. TRIUMPH cares about each fellow's development and provides all the resources and support necessary to allow all fellows in the program to reach their maximum potential."

Dr. Wu's Publication History:
ORCiD: 0000-0002-6051-4252

Dr. Wang earned his bachelor’s degrees from Fudan University before pursuing his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences at City of Hope Medical Center in California. Dr. Wang’s Ph.D. research was focused on advancing cancer immunotherapy using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in brain tumor models. His projects included the design of novel peptide-based CAR T cells for brain tumor treatment, identification of memory CAR T cell markers for therapeutic efficacy, and using genetic modification to enhance CAR T cell antitumor function. 

In 2019, Dongrui joined MD Anderson under the mentorship of Dr. James Allison. His training was through the TRIUMPH program while he was supported by the K00 postdoctoral fellowship from NCI. His postdoc project aimed to elucidate the cellular mechanisms of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). He found that certain subsets of T cells, with effector functional and phenotypic profiles, were enriched after specific ICB treatment. He hopes to use this discovery for rational design of combination immunotherapy strategies.

Dr. Wang's Publication History:
PubMed Author Link
ORCiD: 0000-0002-0859-7281

Dr. Zou received her M.D. degree while studying at the medical school of Nankai University (2009-2016), majoring in Clinical Medicine, followed by a three-year clinical internship. Dr. Zou obtained her Ph.D. in Oncology from Nankai University in 2020. Her Ph.D. research project was to develop novel therapeutics for angiogenesis and metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer, employing comprehensive approaches including library screening, in vivo tumor assessment, molecular biology, and proteomics. Dr. Zou joined MD Anderson Cancer Center in January 2021 as a Postdoctoral Fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Jae-Il Park and later joined the TRIUMPH program.

Gengyi research focused on identifying the cellular origin of gastric cancer by using genetically engineered mouse and organoid models, followed by single-cell RNA sequencing.

Dr. Zou's Publication History:
PubMed Author Link
 

Dr. Bailey earned her B.S. in Organismal Biology from The University of Kansas and her Ph.D. in Toxicology from The University of Kansas Medical Center. Her Ph.D. dissertation focused on epigenetic regulation of farnesoid x receptor. Relocating to Houston, Dr. Bailey joined the TRIUMPH program in 2011 under the mentorship of Dr. Garth Powis. Here, she studied downregulation of farnesoid x receptor in colorectal cancer and screened novel cellular targets to exploit the unfolded protein response for the treatment of cancer. 

Following her post-doctoral fellowship, Dr. Bailey joined the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy (IPCT) at MD Anderson as a Precision Oncology Scientist. During her nearly five years in this role, Dr. Bailey assisted in building an institutional pipeline for assessing tumor genomic profiles for personalized therapy options.

Dr. Bailey explains "The TRIUMPH program was a really great networking opportunity. I was able to write a phase I clinical trial, which introduced me to clinicians within the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy. I was then hired by IPCT as a scientist.This opportunity helped set me up on my current career trajectory."

Dr. Bailey's Publication History:
PUBMED Author Link

Dr. Chakravarti received a BS in Microbiology and an MS in Biotechnology from Bangalore University and earned a second MS in Biology from the University of Houston at Clear Lake. She received her PhD in Cancer Biology from The University of Texas MD Anderson and UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences under the mentorship of Dr. Elsa Flores. Her graduate work focused on determining the role of p63 isoforms in the microRNA biogenesis pathway. She observed a global downregulation of all the mature microRNAs in the TAp63 null metastatic tumors that resulted in the identification of TAp63 as a transcriptional regulator of Dicer and MiR-130b. This work resulted in a co-first author manuscript in Nature in 2010. The ΔNp63 knock-out had epithelial developmental defects and died shortly after birth. Dr. Chakravarti found that the ΔNp63 isoform transcriptionally regulates DGCR8, which helps to maintain epithelial differentiation mainly through a panel of 7 microRNA signature. Loss of ΔNp63 or DGCR8 leads to the induction of multipotency in differentiated cells. This work resulted in a first author manuscript in PNAS in 2014. The TAp63-/- mice also exhibited an aging phenotype, and she performed experiments to determine whether this was due to the shortening of telomere length. The combined exposure to stem cells and telomere biology sparked her interest in pursuing research in this specific area. She recalls "I found it fascinating that telomeres could maintain stem cells and that shortening of telomeres can induce senescence in one context but induce genomic instability and cancer in another."

Joining the TRIUMPH Program shortly after earning her PhD, Dr. Chakravarti explored her interest in telomeres with Dr. Ronald DePinho, a world-renowned telomere and cancer biology expert. During her under Dr. DePinho’s mentorship, she has characterized the inflammatory bowel disease phenotype in telomere dysfunction mice (LSL-mTert;Lgr5CreERT2). She observed that these mice develop significantly high levels of inflammation in the large intestine, compared with the small intestine which is characterized mainly by apoptosis. She also found that reactivation of telomerase with the addition of tamoxifen, specifically in the Lgr5+compartment, is sufficient to suppress the inflammation in the intestine and regenerate the organ in 60% of animals, suggesting that inflammation is being driven by cell intrinsic factors. Given that one of the major differences between the large intestine and the small is microbial load, Dr. Chakravarti hypothesized that the colonic inflammatory phenotype could result from the interaction between cell intrinsic factors and the microbiome leading to hyper-activation of the immune system. RNA-seq revealed the inflammasome pathway to be one of the top pathways. Ultimately, she found that telomere dysfunction-mediated DNA damage can drive a ATM/cABL/Yap1 axis, which stabilizes and localizes Yap1 to the nucleus and can transcriptionally activate pro-IL-18(and other inflammasome genes) leading to the hyper-activation of the CD4+ T cell compartment culminating in an enhanced inflammatory response. Correlative data also demonstrated that this pathway active in the epithelia of biopsies from patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Dr. Chakravarti currently works as an Entrepreneur in Residence at TMC Innovation. 

Dr. Chakravarti notes "I have always been interested in pursuing translational research. The TRIUMPH program helped in orienting me towards patient-oriented research. Through the several courses in the program I had an opportunity to interact with patients undergoing treatments such as immunotherapy at MD Anderson, something that I feel is important for researchers like me to actually experience. I was struck by the impact that translational research like immunotherapy could actually have on patient treatment."  She masterfully balances her high impact research with motherhood and enjoys spending time with her young daughter. 

Dr. Chakravarti's Publication History:
PUBMED Author Link

Dr. Dettler earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry and Biophysical Chemistry from Mississippi State University. She joined the TRIUMPH Program in 2011. 

After her postdoctoral fellowship, she served as Research Data Specialist at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center in Arizona before joining Janssen Pharmaceuticals in 2013 as a Medical Science Liaison in the oncology area. She currently serves as the Oncology Medical Excellence Director at Merck in Texas.

Dr. Fix earned her bachelor’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin before pursuing her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of North Carolina. Through her Ph.D. research, Dr. Fix devised creative solutions to improve cancer therapies by bridging her knowledge of pharmaceutics and therapeutic ultrasound. Her projects ranged from delivering oxygen to hypoxic tumors for radiosensitization to using ultrasound to enhance drug delivery into chemo-resistant cells.In 2019, Samantha joined the TRIUMPH program under the mentorship of Dr. Patrick Hwu. Her postdoc projects centered on improving cell therapies for cancer through genetic engineering. She developed a clinically-scalable process for CRISPR engineering of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), which she used to render TIL resistant to the immunosuppressive effects of TGF-β via knockout of the TGF-β receptor. When her advisor left MD Anderson, Samantha continued her TRIUMPH postdoctoral training under the guidance of Dr. Katy Rezvani where she focused on developing CAR-NK cells for adoptive cell therapy of solid cancers. Dr. Fix now serves as a Principal Research Scientist at MD Anderson.

Of the TRIUMPH program, Dr. Fix states, "I am able to apply my passion for clinical translation and cell therapy while relying on the hard and soft skills I developed throughout my time in the TRIUMPH program."

Dr. Haltom earned her Bachelor's of Science in Genetics from Texas A&M University, where she studied the role of the endosymbiont spiroplasma in the gut of Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila hydei. She received her Ph.D. in Genes and Development from the MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (Houston, TX). Her dissertation work focused on elucidating the role of the post-translational modification O-glucose in the developing Drosophila photoreceptor. 

Dr. Haltom joined the TRIUMPH Program in 2015 during her postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Raghu Kalluri. Her research examined the effect of tumor growth on the biodistribution of normal tissue-derived exomes. Following her work in Dr. Kalluri's laboratory, she accepted a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Department of Pediatrics with Dr. Vidya Gopalakrishnan, where she studies the role of deubiquitinases in cerebellum development and medulloblastoma tumorigenesis. Dr. Haltom won the highly competitive 2017 American Association in Cancer Research Anna D. Barker Fellowship in Basic Cancer Research for her work in cancer research. 

Dr. Haltom reflects "The TRIUMPH program really opened my eyes to translational research. The courses taught me how to apply my basic research knowledge to the patient bedside and what critical questions to ask."

Dr. Haltom's Publication History:
ORCiD: 0000-0002-1291-3793

Dr. Huang earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine after which he joined the TRIUMPH Program in 2015.

Dr. Huang currently works at Repligen as a Senior Field Application Scientist.

Dr. Huang's Publication History:
PUBMED Author Link

Dr. Hubert earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine and joined the TRIUMPH Program shortly after graduation. 

Following his TRIUMPH fellowship, he served as Senior Scientist in R&D for Gene by Gene before becoming an ABMG Clinical Biochemical Genetics Fellow at Baylor College of Medicine, where he trained from 2015-2018. Currently he works as a Clinical Genomic Scientist at Invitae Corp.

Dr. Hubert's Publication History:
PUBMED Author Link

Dr. Kamyabi earned his Bachelors and Masters of Science Degrees at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. He continued his studies to earn his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech University. At Texas Tech, Nabi developed high-throughput microfluidic devices to study the mechanical phenotyping of single tumor cells and their metastatic potential. He investigated many physical parameters, such as cell deformability, friction, and fragmentability under flow.

Nabi joined the CPRIT TRIUMPH Program in 2017. During his time in the TRIUMPH Program, Dr. Kamyabi developed microfluidic devices (MITEX and MICC) for isolation of tumor-associated exomes and circulating tumor cell clusters from plasma of pancreatic cancer patients. He transitioned to a postdoctoral fellowship at Rice University to further pursue his engineering interests in June 2019.

Dr. Kamyabi notes of his participation the TRIUMPH Program "The TRIUMPH Program with its focus on translational research has given me the strength, knowledge, skills, and confidence to conduct the translational research I am doing today. Its multidisciplinary nature has helped me to understand how such work is conducted; I use the same platform of collaborators in my current position."

Dr. Kamyabi's Publication History:
ORCiD: 0000-0002-3712-2066

Kiran earned his B.Sc. (Bachelor of Science) in Physiology in 2009 from Serampore College (University of Calcutta), India. Then he did his M.Sc. (Master of Science) in Human Physiology, specializing Immunology and Microbiology from University of Calcutta. Upon completion, Kiran obtained his Ph.D. from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel in 2020. He performed his Ph.D. thesis work under the guidance of Professor Angel Porgador, Dean, The Shraga Segal Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics. Kiran's Ph.D. thesis topic was ‘Identification of Immune Checkpoints Involving the Natural Cytotoxicity Receptors in Respect to Natural Killer Cells Functions’ and his Ph.D. study was supported by fellowship from Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.

While a TRIUMPH Fellow, using NK cells from healthy human donor cord blood Kiran developed CAR-NK cells to target HLA-G protein. Dr. Kudu currently serves as a Senior Research Scientist at Aurigene Oncology in India. 

Dr. Kundu's Publication History:
PUBMED Author Link
ORCiD: 0000-0001-7586-4696

Dr. Lara-Guerra received his Bachelor's of Science at Instituto Cultural Tampico (Tampico, Mexico) and his M.D. from the Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas. He then earned his M.Sc. from The University of British Columbia, where he studied the role of platelet activating factor in the mechanism of nitric oxide synthases after regional myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury under the mentorship of Dr. Karim Qayumi and Dr. Richard Finley. During his time there, he was also part of the team that developed a surgical/radiological kit for the resection of pulmonary nodules. He continued his studies, earning his Ph.D. in the Clinical Investigator Stream at University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), where he created and lead a neoadjuvant clinical trials program focused in early lung cancer. He took this unique opportunity to publish the first worldwide trial on neoadjuvant EGFR TK inhibition previous to surgical resection. His laboratory work focused in a detailed evaluation of EGFR phosphorylation, mutation, and copy number in NSCLC, including before and after neo-adjuvant EGFR inhibition. Dr. Lara-Guerra joined the TRIUMPH program in 2010 under the mentorship of Dr. Jack Roth and examined exogenous restoration of TUSC2 expression in non-small cell lung cancer to overcome resistance to EGFR inhibition in a very translational research project, taking this gene therapy into clinical trials. 

After the TRIUMPH Program, Dr. Lara-Guerra became Medical Director in Oncology at Aeglea Biotherapeutics, he was responsible, from concept to implementation, for the clinical research efforts of the Oncology portfolio, focused on phase 1 and 2 trials of pegzilarginase, a pegylated arginase 1, as a monotherapy and in combination with anti-PD-L1 therapy. He functioned as a Medical Monitor and created and maintained a network of sites and key opinion leaders to efficiently run oncology-based trials to completion on time and with the highest data quality. He prepared study protocols, amendments, filing for investigational new drugs, prepared investigational medicinal product dossiers, and development safety update reports. Dr. Lara-Guerra presented projects at national and international meetings, prepared corresponding manuscripts, and brought leadership in translational research for effective biomarker development. Dr. Lara-Guerra currently serves as the Senior Medical Director of Clinical Sciences at Regeneron.

Dr. Lara-Guerra reflects "The TRIUMPH program was a unique experience that exposed me to sometimes opposite perspectives of drug development. On one hand, the coursework and the specific project under the mentorship of great academic leaders gave me the opportunity to lead an effort towards a clinical application. On the other, the clinical rotations, exposures, and interactions with physicians taught me to always think from the other side of the table and keep in mind the current problems that clinicians are confronting and also the practicality and essentiality of the solutions that we are developing."

Dr. Lara-Guerra's Publication History:
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ORCiD: 000-0002-9604-2031

Dr. Mastoraki earned her B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). Her master's research focused on the study and clinical evaluation of SOX17 and BRMS1 promoters methylation in breast cancer patients using methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting analysis. She received her Ph.D. in 2018 from the University of Athens in Greece, where her Ph.D. thesis work sought to develop and clinically evaluate blood-based biomarkers in liquid biopsy samples of cancer patients. Dr. Mastoraki joined MD Anderson and the CPRIT TRIUMPH Program in 2019. During the TRIUMPH program, Dr. Mastoraki researched the effects of mammary epithelial expression of LMW-E in regulating of different TIL subpopulations and inflammatory responses prior and during tumorigenesis.

When asked about her experience with the TRIUMPH program, Dr. Mastoraki states, "the TRIUMPH program provided me with a great opportunity to explore all aspects of translational cancer research through an exciting multidisciplinary training environment. For me, the most outstanding part of the TRIUMPH program was the clinical rotations, where I learnt how to collaborate with physicians, understand patients’ needs and thus better guide research studies from bench to bedside. Through TRIUMPH, I saw myself growing as a scientist, and also developing skills that enabled me to advance my career."

Dr. Mastoraki currently serves as a Senior Scientific Associate at Intelligencia.ai in Greece.

Publication History:
ORCiD: 0000-0001-8140-6106
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Dr. McKenzie completed her B.A. in Biological Sciences from Mount Holyoke College, where she completed an honors thesis under Dr. Craig T. Woodward titled "The effect of beta-FTZ-F1 mutation on motor neuron structure and function in Drosophila melanogaster." She then earned her Ph.D. in Oncological Sciences from the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute. Here, Dr. McKenzie examined the role of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein Survivin in melanoma cell motility and metastasis. She discovered that Survivin could enhance migration and invasion of melanoma cells through activation of the Akt pathway and upregulation of alpha-5-beta-1 integrin. During her TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship, she focused on improving melanoma patient response to cancer immunotherapy by developing novel combinations to improve response to T- cell based cancer immunotherapy. Using melanoma patient-derived cell lines and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and in vivo models, she was able to demonstrate that Topoisomerase I inhibitors (Top1) can improve the efficacy of T cell killing of tumor cells. This provided the basis for the development of a clinical trial concept looking at the combination of a Top1 inhibitor and a PD-1/-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor.

In her former position as Clinical Research Scientist in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics (Phase I Clinical Trials) at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. McKenzie worked on developing clinical trials focused on combinations of immuno-oncology agents and DNA Damage Response-targeting agents. In her current position as Director of Clinical Development for Eisai, she participates in global oncology research studies and works with study directors and team leaders to support protocol development, study conduct, and presentation of study data.

Dr. McKenzie says this about our program: "The TRIUMPH program was very instrumental in helping me prepare for my career. Through the program I was able to learn more about human subject research and what’s involved in translating bench research into practical applications in the clinical setting."

Publication History:
ORCID: 0000-0002-6345-1218
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Dr. Sanchez earned her B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from The University of Texas at Austin and her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Vanderbilt University, where her Ph.D. thesis project focused on understanding the role of type III TGF-b receptor in coronary vessel development. During her time as TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Sanchez led a translational research project to develop a platform for context-specific, functional genomic screens to identify and validate novel therapeutic targets in pancreatic cancer. 

Dr. Sanchez joined the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy (IPCT) as a Precision Oncology Scientist in 2015, where she planned, designed, and delivered  requirements to software developers to support the creation and maintenance of informatics platforms to house Precision Oncology Decision Support knowledgebase. She managed collaborations between IPCT and Guardant Health to establish the utility of cfDNA testing in patients with advanced and/or non-biopsable cancers, and she contributes as a subject matter expert to MD Anderson Cancer Center's data governance committee on efforts to standardize and enhance the access and utility of clinical data. Currently, Dr. Sanchez serves as a Director at Labcorp.

Of the TRIUMPH program, Dr. Sanchez states "The overall diverse training received through TRIUMPH was instrumental to my current position. Specifically, exposure gained through clinical rotations through the various clinics helped develop a key understanding of the bottom line in patient care. Moreover, exposure to the regulatory aspects of clinical research was instrumental to understanding the challenges of moving science from bench to bedside."

Dr. Sanchez's Publication History:
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Dr. Sans earned her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of New Orleans and her Ph.D in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. Her undergraduate research focused on synthesis and evaluation of nanoparticles for drug delivery and photothermal therapies in cancer. Her graduate work under the mentorship of Dr. Livia S. Eberlin focused on the development and applications of mass spectrometry technology to address relevant challenges in human health. She contributed to the development and application of the MasSpec Pen for in vivo use during human surgery and applied ambient ionization methods to investigate ovarian cancer aggressiveness and to generate molecular classifiers for improved diagnosis from frozen tissue secitons. Marta joined the TRIUMPH Program for her postdoctoral fellowship training at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Spring 2020. 

During her time with the TRIUMPH program, Marta's research projects focused on the spatial investigation of the microenvironment in pancreatic cancer utilizing metabolomic and proteomic imaging with mass spectrometry and spatial transcriptomics. In speaking of her time with the TRIUMPH program, Marta stated, "I had a really great experience during my time as a TRIUMPH postdoctoral fellow at MDACC. The ability to explore and interact with multiple laboratories at the start of the program was, in my opinion, a great opportunity to think about the science I wanted to do and to find the right fit. After starting at the Maitra lab, having the program leaders as well as my TRIUMPH postdoctoral committee follow my progress and provide feedback was very helpful for both my research and career endeavors. Being a part of the CPRIT community was also a great way to interact with other postdoctoral fellows as well as graduate and undergraduate students at the institution."

Dr. Sans' Publication History:
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Dr. Scaduto completed her B.S. in Biochemistry and Microbiology at UCLA and her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine in 2011, where her dissertation focused on molecular and biochemical characterization of genetic variants and their roles in human cancer. She joined the CPRIT TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship in Fall 2011 and worked under the mentorship of Dr. Lynda Chin to examine stromal-epithelial metabolic coupling in the melanoma tumor microenvironment. 

Dr. Scaduto currently serves as a Lab Director at Analyte Health in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Scaduto's Publication History:
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Dr. Su received her Ph.D. in Genes & Development from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. She joined the TRIUMPH Program in 2011. Currently Dr. Su works as a Science Officer at Goldbelt Frontiers.

Dr. Su's Publication History:
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Dr. Yang received his B.S. in Biochemistry and M.S. in Cell Biology from Beijing Normal University (Beijing, China). He completed his Ph.D. at Baylor College of Medicine in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His dissertation project focused on studying the function of telomere binding proteins and their role in dyskeratosis congenita. Dr. Yang joined the TRIUMPH program in 2011 and investigated targeted therapies for triple-negative breast cancer in preclinical models and utilized NGS to identify biomarkers for therapeutic response.

Following his post-doc, Dr. Yang joined Molecular Health Inc. and worked as a Clinical Science Liaison for two years before returning to his MD Anderson as a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therpy, where he analyzed genomic data and provided personalized medical reports for cancer patients. In 2019, he transitioned to industry as a Field Application Scientist for QIAGEN. Currently he serves as a Senior Medical Science Liason for Astellas Pharma.

He credits the TRIUMPH program with his career success explaining "The TRIUMPH program exposed me to the field of clinical research through the clinical rotations and curriculum related to clinical trial and human subject research. This program also tremendously helped me establish professional and personal connections, which led me to my current position. Before joining the TRIUMPH program, I viewed translational cancer research as a linear process from bench to bedside. Now, I realize that translational research should be a two-way road. The clinical feedback and data are as important as the figures generated in the lab. Without the TRIUMPH program, I would have never found my passion in clinical research and in the job I love." 

Dr. Yang's Publication History:
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Dr. Yu earned her Bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Engineering and her M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Southeast University in Nanjing, China. During this time, her research focused on drug formulation, pharmaceutical analysis, and polymer synthesis and characterization. Her Master’s thesis was titled “Synthesis of PEG-PLA diblock copolymer and preparation of PEG-PLA microparticle.” She received her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2018, where she researched polymeric drugs and nanoparticle use in anti-cancer and inflammatory bowel disease therapies and gene delivery. Dr. Yu joined MD Anderson Cancer Center as a TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellow in November 2018 and worked in the laboratories of Drs. Giulio Draetta and Philip Jones until her graduation from the program in 2021. Currently Dr. Yu works as a Institute Research Investigator at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

In reflecting on the TRIUMPH program Dr. Yu states, "The distinctive value that TRIUMPH Program brought me is the opportunity and experiences working on a highly translational project in a multi-disciplinary team. With the unique infrastructure of this training, I was able to work both in an academic lab and a drug development institute to participate in the whole process of drug discovery and development. I enjoy the most working in such a collaborative environment teamed with scientists of cancer biology, biochemistry, structural chemistry and medicinal chemistry."

Dr. Yu's Publication History:
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Dr. Zhao earned his B.S. in Bioengineering from Henan University in Kaifeng, China and his M.S. in Microbiology from China Agricultural University in Beijing, China. During this period, his research focused on DNA replication and cell cycle checkpoint in budding yeast under the mentorship of Dr. Huiqiang Lou. Dr. Zhao completed his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Georgia Institute of Technology, where his dissertation project under the mentorship of Dr. Patrick McGrath focused on Identification of the genetic and phenotypic basis of adaptation to new food sources in two laboratory domesticated Caenorhabditis elegansstrains. He also earned a M.S. in Statistics while at Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Zhao joined MD Anderson Cancer Center in Fall 2019 as a Postdoctoral Fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Nicholas Navin and later joined the TRIUMPH program in 2020. As a TRIUMPH Fellow, Dr. Zhao's research focused on  delineating the evolution of therapeutic resistance and metastasis and identifying clinical markers in prostate cancer by utilizing single-cell sequencing and liquid biopsy genomics.

In reflecting on the TRIUMPH program Dr. Zhao states, "The CPRIT TRIUMPH program provided me with a comprehensive foundation of scientific knowledge and essential skills in translational cancer research."

Dr. Zhao's Publication History:
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Dr. Dennison graduated summa cum laude with her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University. After working in the pharmaceutical industry for a few years, she attended Indiana University, where she earned her Ph.D. in Pharmacology. Dr. Dennison's translational research project was conducted in the Division of Clinical Pharmacy. She hypothesized that expression of CYP3A5, an enzyme with common genetic polymorphisms, may be critical to the hepatic metabolism and ultimately the systemic exposure of vincristine during therapy.  Unlike most basic science graduate projects, this project allowed her to collaborate with scientists from Eli Lilly and pediatric oncologists.  First, she identified the major cytochrome P450 metabolite of vincristine and characterized its kinetics of biotransformation using recombinant enzymes, human liver microsomes, and cryopreserved hepatocytes.  The major metabolite and parent drug were then quantified in plasma from ALL and rhabdomyosarcoma pediatric patients treated with vincristine at Riley Hospital (Indianapolis, IN) and the Children’s Memorial Hospital (Chicago, IL).  After evaluating the in vitro findings and the data from these first clinical studies, the Children’s Oncology Group initiated more comprehensive clinical trials to determine whether CYP3A5 genetic polymorphisms were associated with vincristine drug clearance and clinical outcomes.  Although the results are unknown at this time, it is anticipated that these trials may justify individualized therapy of vincristine for pediatric oncology patients.  

After graduate school, to discover and evaluate new therapies in oncology, Dr. Dennison accepted a post-doctoral fellowship in the Varsha Gandhi laboratory at MD Anderson Cancer Center; this laboratory is proficient in cell culture and molecular biology techniques specific to hematological malignancies and nucleoside analogs.  For her project, she evaluated the actions of a new class of nucleoside analogs, the 8-substituted adenosine analogs, using mantle cell lymphoma cell lines and primary cells.  In addition, for the on-going phase I clinical trial of 8-chloro-adenosine (8-Cl-Ado) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Dr. Dennison determined the ex vivo response of the cells to 8-Cl-Ado and quantified the accumulation of active metabolites in primary cells.  She expects that the results of her post-graduate studies will provide justification for future clinical trials of 8-substituted adenosine analogs in MCL and facilitate the understanding of 8-Cl-Ado intracellular metabolism in vivo. Dr. Dennison joined TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program and moved to the Department of Systems Biology. Her research here focused on metabolic heterogeneity in breast cancers.  While the field of metabolism in oncology at the time almost exclusively focused on the Warburg effect, her research shows that cancers have differences in many key metabolic pathways that are associated with gene expression patterns, the molecular phenotype.  Metabolic differences between cancers can be targeted and predict responses to current therapeutics.  For example, Dr. Dennison recently evaluated a differentially expressed enzyme, lactate dehydrogenase B, which contributed to the glycolytic phenotype of basal breast cancers and predicted patient response to chemotherapy.  She also identified histological markers of luminal breast cancers that contributed to heterogeneous protein expression and subtyping by reverse phase protein array. 

Currently serving as the Associate Director for Research Planning and Development for the Red and Charline McCombs Institute for Early Detection and Cancer Treatment at MD Anderson, Dr. Dennison is responsible for the administrative and scientific leadership of the proteomics and metabolomics platform and clinical studies initiated by the McCombs Institute. 

Dr. Dennison reflects "My experience in the TRIUMPH program allowed me to collaborate with clinicians and to understand how laboratory research can influence clinical practice. These experiences are essential to my current position within MD Anderson to lead teams that discover biomarkers for risk assessment and early detection of cancer. I still interact with many of the MD Anderson clinicians whom I met during my fellowship."

Dr. Dennison's Publication History:
ORCiD: 0000-0003-3067-0972

Dr. Alexander received her B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Delaware in 2004 and her Ph.D. in Environmental Molecular Carcinogenesis at MD Anderson (Smithville Campus) in 2011. Her PhD dissertation focused on the mechanisms linking DNA damage and oxidative stress signaling to mTOR to induce autophagy and the cancer-based ramifications of this process. Her PhD thesis was guided by Dr. Cheryl Walker. Dr. Alexander joined the TRIUMPH Program upon her graduation and joined the Keyomarsi lab, where she studied cyclin E as a biomarker and therapeutic target in inflammatory breast cancer. She designed several synergistic combination treatment strategies exploiting cyclin E as a driver, and studied the mechanistic basis of this activity. While a TRIUMPH Fellow, Dr. Alexander secured independent funding via a highly competitive US Department of Defense Breast Cancer Breakthrough Award.

Dr. Alexander currently works as a Research Project Manager for the inflammatory breast cancer program at MD Anderson. Here, she oversees clinical trials for patients with inflammatory breast cancer and triple negative breast cancers. She assists in the scientific diretion of several ongoing clinical trials, and the development of new lab and clinical protocols.

Dr. Alexander's Publication History:
ORCiD: 0000-0002-6649-7991

Dr. Anugwom earned her Ph.D. in Radiation Biology at TU Darmstadt (Germany) under the mentorship of Markus Lobrich and joined the TRIUMPH program shortly after graduation. While a part of the TRIUMPH program, Dr. Anugwom was also awarded an Odyssey Fellowship through the institution. Dr. Anugwom graduated from both programs in 2021.

Dr. Gant earned her B.S. in Biology with a Chemistry minor from Elizabeth City State University. She later completed the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)-funded Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) at the University of Missouri to prepare for graduate school. She earned her Ph.D. in Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May 2022. Her dissertation title was “Understanding Extracellular Matrix Alterations in High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer” under the guidance of Dr. Manish S. Patankar and Dr. Paul J. Campagnola. There, Dr. Gant investigated collagen remodeling patterns in human fallopian tubes and ovaries to understand their implication in metastatic behaviors, and how these data may be useful in developing ECM-specific clinical imaging modalities for early-stage detection of ovarian cancer. During her time at MD Anderson, Dr. Gant worked to identify nerve fibers and neural networks within TLS in human tumors with the intent to evaluate nerve fibers and lymphoid aggregates in a murine tumor model treated with ICT and evaluate therapeutic combination strategies to inhibit specific neural networks + ICT.

Dr. Merting earned her B.S. in Biology from the University of South Carolina Aiken. She then earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences with a focus on Biochemistry and Cancer Biology under the guidance of Dr. Kebin Liu at the Medical College of Georgia. Her graduate thesis was titled "Enhancing Immune Therapy by Modulating Cell Death" and was supported by a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA) F31 fellowship from the NCI. Dr. Merting joined the TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in August 2022. Her TRIUMPH research focused on elucidating the mechanisms behind the NK cell dysfunction by generating NK cell dysfunction models through aging and challenges with tumors within an in vitro setting.

Dr. Pham earned her B.A. in Biology and Chemistry at Wesleyan College and her Ph.D. in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine under the guidance of Dr. Grzegorz Ira. Her Ph.D. project demonstrates how cells prevent the usage of very mutagenic pathway of the DNA Double Strand Breaks (DSBs) repair called Break Induced Replication (BIR). This pathway is responsible for many genomic instabilities in human, it is activated in cancer cells and it is normally suppressed during repair of so called two-ended DSBs. She also contributed to the identification of the new function of Dna2, a well-conserved nuclease and helicase, in preventing large and complex DNA insertions at chromosomal breaks. 

Dr. Pham's Research Interests:
Medium-chain Acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) is one of the enzymes involved in mitochondrial fatty acid b-oxdation. The depletion of MCAD in primary glioblastoma triggered lipid peroxidation, oxidative stress, irreversible mitochondrial damage, and apoptosis. As inherited MCAD deficiency is a condition compatible with normal quality of life, the dependency of glioblastoma cancer cells of MCAD suggests a therapeutic window for GBM. My research project focuses on understanding the protective role of MCAD in tumorigenesis and/on progression of GBM.