Research Abstract

My long-term research is focused on the early detection, interception, and prevention of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. My background has purposely encompassed both clinical and traditional bench research so that I can seamlessly operate at the interface of the laboratory and the bedside. My overarching interest has focused on implementing comprehensive clinical trial designs, thereby creating robust biorepositories comprised of a wide-range of carefully collected biospecimens that are matched with high-resolution clinical metadata. This empowers a scientifically rigorous approach to identify and test mechanistically-informed biomarkers. Ultimately, these biomarkers may inform personalized risk assessments, reveal critical insights into tumorigenesis, and identify novel modalities for prevention and interception of cancer and other diseases. This interest dates back to my doctoral training which focused on developing novel sensitive genomic and proteomic tools at the bench to elucidate molecular mechanisms driving tumorigenesis in human GI precancers. I expanded this skillset beyond the bench with post-doctoral training in the design and execution of cancer prevention and interception trials, including the ASPIRED trial, and epidemiological and statistical methods. Specifically, my research has focused on how the gut microbiome mediates chemoprevention, tumorigenesis, and cancer outcomes, including immunotherapy-related toxicities. At the bench, I have focused on developing translational tools using trial participant-derived ‘living biobanks’ (e.g. intestinal organoids or fecal sample derived gut bacteria communities) that compliment standard biobanking approaches and ‘omic data generation for downstream mechanistic investigation. In the clinic, I have focused on developing innovative trial designs that implement novel tools for data-capture.