Surgical Oncology Research Faculty

Research Interests: There is a new opportunity for a Certificate in Clinical Research. It will be available on a merit basis to a resident who is interested in clinical outcomes and clinical trials research. The certificate is earned through the College of Medicine and involves online courses in biostatistics, epidemiology, grant writing, etc. The online courses can be taken over one to two years and will count as credit toward a Masters in Clinical Research if the resident desires. Upon completion of the certificate program the resident will have 17 credit hours and will have the foundation to develop clinical research questions, functioning knowledge of how to calculate statistics within a research framework, and will have established connections with outcomes researchers within MUSC. I will serve as the overall research mentor for this project but will facilitate additional research relationships based upon the residents' interests. The number of residents who will be offered this opportunity is not predetermined and again will be chosen on merit of application. Any resident interested in this opportunity should contact abbottan@musc.edu

Mentor: Kevin S. Hughes, MD

Our goal is to leverage the power of information technology to help identify every mutation carrier for every hereditary cancer syndrome known to man BEFORE they develop cancer. We use Artificial Intelligence, graph and relational databases, knowledge management techniques and Natural Language Processing to organize the world’s literature on germline cancer genetics. We use this Knowledge Base to develop visualizations and Clinical Decision Support Tools that help bring clinical cancer genetic testing into the mainstream. We are looking for researchers interested in becoming Domain Experts in cancer genetics to develop physician educational tools, patient facing tools, systematic reviews and knowledge discovery. Our products can be found at:

Gene-Cancer Visualizations using graph database technology

Gene-Cancer Penetrance Visualizations

Risk assessment and Clinical Decision Support

Mentor: Nancy Klauber-DeMore, M.D.

Research Interest: My research focuses on tumor angiogenesis and immunotherapy. We have discovered novel targets for cancer, elucidated molecular mechanisms, and developed novel therapeutics.

Mentor: David Mahvi, M.D.

Research interest: My research interests include human-centered design and health system transformation to value-based care.

Mentor: Shikhar Mehrotra, Ph.D.

Research Interest: Dr. Mehrotra’s research group has focused on understanding T cell biology for immunotherapy of cancer. In order to generate tumor-reactive T cells that can persist longer, and lead to control of tumor growth, his group is testing several strategies. They previously described a novel strategy to demarcate effector T cells based on cell surface thiol (c-SH) expression into c-SHhi and c-SHlo T cells. They showed high anti-oxidant property is central to potent anti-tumor effector T cells, and directly correlates to CD62Lhi central memory, low glycolytic, and low mitochondrial membrane potential phenotype, all of which may be linked and contribute to better tumor control. His group has also shown that p53 regulates T cell glycolysis and altering p53 levels in T cells could be exploited to control tumor growth. More recently, his group has shown that targeting non-canonical ectonucleotidase CD38 on T cells could lead to a potent and long-term control of tumor mediated by anti-tumor T cells. His group is also working to combine strategies where targeting kinases with checkpoint blockade could enhance the effectiveness of ACT. A recent study from his group showed that a combination of PIM kinase inhibitor administered along with anti-PD1 and ACT leads to a robust tumor control.

Mentor: Jeffrey Sutton, M.D.

Research Interest: Historically, I have done clinical outcomes research in cost-effectiveness and educational research that I would like to continue.