UCRF - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director, Cancer Research Training Education Coordination
Job Titles:
- Education and Training Program Manager
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Co - Associate Director, Cancer Research Training Education Coordination
Job Titles:
- Investigator Award, Geriatric Oncology Consortium, 2004
Chad Pecot, MD, is a UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center member specializing in solid tumor malignancies, thoracic medical oncology and clinical research.
Chuck Perou, PhD, is a UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center member researching the drivers of metastatic disease and the role of the adaptive immune system in breast tumor progression.
Job Titles:
- Pediatric Cancer Research Fund, the V Foundation, 2023
Dirk P. Dittmer, PhD, is a UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center member with research interests in understanding viral tumorigenesis, specifically, cancers that are caused by Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Scientist Development Award, 2001
Claire Dees, MD, MSc, ScM, is a UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center member and medical oncologist. She specializes in breast cancer and early phase clinical trials.
Ethan Basch, MD, MSc, is a UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center member and medical oncologist and health services researcher focused on developing methods to bring the patient perspective into cancer clinical research and routine care delivery.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Childhood Cancer / Co - Leader, UNC Lineberger Cancer Genetics Research Program
Gary L Johnson, PhD, is a UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center member and Kenan Distinguished Professor and Chair in the Department of Pharmacology at UNC-Chapel Hill. Johnson Lab studies the primary signal relay systems and how they regulate gene expression, cell growth, development and apoptosis.
Hazel Nichols, PhD, is a cancer epidemiologist and professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her research is focused on improving cancer care by providing epidemiologic evidence to guide personal and medical decision-making around cancer risk and survivorship. Her work is based within population-based observational cohort studies, cohorts identified in health systems data, and uses linked information from cancer registries, vital statistics, health care databases, and administrative insurance claims. Dr. Nichols is multiple principal investigator of the statewide Carolina Endometrial Cancer Study and the multi-site Valuing Opinions and Insight from Cancer Experiences (VOICE) Study of AYA cancer, and faculty director of the UNC Cancer Survivorship Cohort.
Job Titles:
- Distinguished Cancer Research Award, 2021
- Distinguished Cancer Research Award, UNC - Chapel Hill, 2013
UNC Lineberger's Ian Davis, MD, PhD, was awarded $1 million by the The V Foundation to support his work to improve CAR-T therapy for pediatric solid tumors.
James E. Bear, PhD, is a UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center member and cell biologist with interests in the regulation of actin dynamics, directional cell motility and invasive tumor cell behavior
Job Titles:
- Distinguished Investigator Award, 2017
Job Titles:
- Co - Associate Director, Cancer Research Training Education Coordination
- Professor
Jen Jen Yeh, MD, maintains an active clinical practice taking care of patients with endocrine (thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal) diseases and pancreatic cancer. Her research focus centers on the use of genomics to identify new approaches for pancreatic cancer.
Yeh received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University and completed her general surgery residency at the Boston Medical Center, a research fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and a surgical oncology fellowship at the Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
In 2015, Yeh identified new molecular subtypes of pancreatic cancer that have may have biological and clinical significance. To translate molecular subtypes to the clinic, her group developed a single sample classifier that is now being developed for clinical use. Yeh and her collaborators also have developed a device that could help drive chemotherapy drugs directly into pancreatic tumor tissue to prevent their growth and shrink them. Yeh co-founded Advanced Chemotherapeutic Technologies, Inc. in order to bring the device into clinical trials. Yeh's group is focused on identifying vulnerabilities in tumors to guide treatment for patients.
The long-term goal of the Thaxton Lab is to create and implement novel immune-based strategies that advance care for sarcoma and metastatic bone disease patients.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Support Specialist
Job Titles:
- National Research Service Award, 2010
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Training & Education Leadership Team