2016 UofSC breast cancer faculty experts list
Posted on: October 17, 2016; Updated on: October 17, 2016
By Laura Kammerer, laurakam@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-4731
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The University of South Carolina has a number of faculty members who are available to offer their expertise in breast cancer stories. To coordinate an interview, contact the staff member listed with each expert entry.
Disparities in breast cancer screening, treatment
Jan Eberth has conducted research exploring breast cancer screening and treatment disparities in South Carolina and nationwide. She is available to discuss statistics on breast cancer in South Carolina; disparities in screening or quality of treatment by geographic region and race/ethnicity; and geographic access to mammography. Eberth is an assistant professor in the epidemiology and biostatistics department in the Arnold School of Public Health, as well as a core faculty member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program. She is the former chair of the Breast and Female Cancers Workgroup of the S.C. Cancer Alliance.
News contact: Megan Sexton, msexton@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-1421.
Tisha Felder has conducted research on breast health, cancer prevention and control. She can discuss socioeconomic disparities in breast cancer patients. Felder holds a joint appointment in the College of Nursing and the Arnold School of Public Health.
News contact: John Brunelli, brunelli@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-3697
Swann Arp Adams’ research focuses on understanding and intervening upon cancer health disparities experienced by African-Americans. She is available to discuss her recent research on Medicaid coverage expansion and the implications for gaps in cancer care. Adams is an associate professor in the Arnold School of Public Health and the College of Nursing and is co-director of the Cancer Survivorship Center.
News contact: Megan Sexton, msexton@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-1421.
Breast cancer genetics
Every patient’s cancer harbors unique genetic changes. Phil Buckhaults, associate professor in the drug discovery and biomedical sciences department in the College of Pharmacy, co-authored a groundbreaking study revealing that human breast cancers often have mutations in more than 100 genes, which vary widely from patient to patient. Buckhaults now leads a team of researchers that are culturing tumor and normal cells from cancer patients. These primary cells grow as organoid avatars, which they are using to test all FDA-approved cancer drugs and make treatment decisions. He also is studying a natural sequence variation in the tumor protein 53 (TP53) gene in African-American breast cancer patients; his research of that genetic variation in colon cancer patients found that it accelerated disease onset for African-Americans by five years. In addition, his lab is working to identify effective treatments for cancers with TP53 mutations. He can answer questions about cancer genetics.
News contact: Laura Kammerer, laurakam@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-4731.
Ann Ramsdell is a breast cancer researcher and a stage III breast cancer survivor. Her recent work focuses on the differences in tumor development between the left and right mammary glands and how that could lead to more effective treatment or prevention. Ramsdell is an associate professor in the department of cell biology and anatomy at the School of Medicine. She is available to discuss the effects of triple negative breast cancer — a particularly aggressive form of the disease often found in patients who are young, African-American or Hispanic; patients who have a BRCA1 gene mutation; and patients whose cancer contains extra copies of the HER2 gene — which tends to grow faster and is more likely to spread and return.
News contact: Rosemary Thompson, rosemary.thompson@uscmed.sc.edu, 803-369-0329.
Improving breast cancer therapies’ effectiveness
Although many new breast cancer drugs have recently been developed, these drugs — just like conventional chemotherapy — frequently fail because cancer cells become resistant to the agents. Igor Roninson, the SmartState Endowed Chair in Translational Cancer Therapeutics and director of the Center for Targeted Therapeutics, researches ways to prevent the development of drug resistance for new and old therapies. His current work focuses on inhibiting the protein CDK8, which allows cancer cells to change their properties and become more malignant and drug resistant. CDK8 inhibition by the drug discovered by Roninson helps other drugs to kill tumor cells and prevents the development of resistance. Roninson previously discovered the key gene responsible for tumor resistance to many drugs and won the American Association for Cancer Research Award for Meritorious Achievement in Cancer Research.
His collaborator Eugenia Broude, a faculty member in the drug discovery and biomedical sciences department in the College of Pharmacy, has discovered CDK8’s key role for breast cancer patients’ outcomes and demonstrated the effectiveness of CDK8 inhibition in combination with targeted drugs used for breast cancer treatment. Roninson and Broude can explain the treatment modalities of breast cancer and discuss their research into improving breast cancer therapies.
News contact: Laura Kammerer, laurakam@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-4731.
Breast cancer microenvironment
Breast cancer cells’ behavior and response to treatment is not only influenced by the cancer cells’ properties but also by the microenvironment in each patient’s tissue. Hippokratis Kiaris is available to discuss his recent study in Oncogene that found manipulating the CCL8 protein disrupts cancer cell growth and slows its spread. He is an associate professor in the drug discovery and biomedical sciences department in the College of Pharmacy.
News contact: Laura Kammerer, laurakam@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-4731.
Social support networks in African-American breast cancer patients
Sue Heiney has conducted research on minority recruitment and retention to cancer studies and the social support networks of African-American breast cancer patients. Heiney, who is the Shealy Dunn Professor of Nursing in the College of Nursing, can discuss the role social support networks play in African-American breast cancer patients.
News contact: John Brunelli, brunelli@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-3697
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