Bio

Our group's research is focused on attaining a better understanding of the initiation, maintenance, and progression of tumors, and their response to current therapies toward improving future treatment strategies. Our group develops and applies genomic biomarkers of tumor cells, whether detected through biopsy of the primary neoplasm, or noninvasively through monitoring of the bodily fluids including blood. We apply such genomic biomarkers for the early detection, diagnosis, and monitoring of diverse tumors including lymphomas and solid tumors. We are also interested in better molecular understanding of normal tissue stem cells and their malignant tumor-initiating counterparts (cancer stem cells), toward identification of the underlying mechanisms relevant to specific cancers of the hematopoietic system. We have also worked to build prognostic and predictive models for clinical and therapeutic outcomes of diverse human malignancies, through large-scale bioinformatic meta-analysis of human tumor transcriptomes, including deconvolution of complex tumor admixtures including infiltrating leukocytes. In this effort, we help build and employ tools from functional genomics, computational biology, molecular genetics, and mouse models. We are applying this knowledge toward the design of clinical trials in the treatment of patients with various malignancies, whom I care for directly or indirectly, as a clinician specializing in Medical Oncology and Hematology.