Overview
I have been engaged in basic and applied cancer research for over 28 years beginning with my post-doctoral fellowship under Arnold Levine at Princeton. Since being appointed to the faculty in the Department of Surgery at Duke, my primary interest has been towards understanding breast and ovarian cancer. I am a charter member of the NCI-Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) and have been an integral scientist in the breast and gynecologic collaborative group for 15 years including leading this group for a 5 year period. I am also a major contributor to the Cancer Genome Atlas and have worked in this context for the past 4 years. My research interests are in the molecular etiology of these diseases and understanding how key genetic events contribute to their onset and progression. My work has been very multi-disciplinary incorporating quantitative, population, genetic, and behavioral approaches. I consider my specialty to be in the area of using human breast and ovarian cancer as the primary and only authentic model system to understand these diseases.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Genomic Characterization of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma Reveals Distinct Somatic Features in Black Individuals.
Journal Article Cancer Res · May 2, 2025 Black individuals experience worse survival after a diagnosis of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSC) than White individuals and are underrepresented in ovarian cancer research. To date, the understanding of the molecular and genomic heterogeneity of ... Full text Link to item CiteSpatial localization of collagen hydroxylated proline site variation as an ancestral trait in the breast cancer microenvironment.
Journal Article Matrix Biol · April 2025 Collagen stroma interactions within the extracellular microenvironment of breast tissue play a significant role in breast cancer, including risk, progression, and outcomes. Hydroxylation of proline (HYP) is a common post-translational modification directly ... Full text Link to item CiteEvolutionary measures show that recurrence of DCIS is distinct from progression to breast cancer.
Journal Article Breast Cancer Res · March 21, 2025 BACKGROUND: Progression from pre-cancers like ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) to invasive disease (cancer) is driven by somatic evolution and is altered by clinical interventions. We hypothesized that genetic and/or phenotypic intra-tumor heterogeneity wou ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
Duke Research Training Program in Surgical Oncology
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2024 - 2029Methylomic Basis of Survival Disparities Among Black and White Women With High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute · 2023 - 2027Dynamic imaging and tissue biomarker models to delineate indolent from aggressive breast calcifications
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Cancer Institute · 2022 - 2027View All Grants