Medical College of Georgia
Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy
I earned Ph.D. in Genetics and received substantial training after graduation. My research investigates the genomic alterations and evolution of melanoma and other cancer types.
I am interested in teaching basics of cancer genomics, human genomics and bioinformatics.
My primary research focus is on uncovering the molecular basis that leads to cancer initiation, progression and relapse. Our work identified genes that are probable novel drivers of acral and mucosal melanomas and demonstrated that the evolutionary trajectory of acral melanoma differs markedly from that of melanomas arising in sun-exposed skin. We are currently working on the genomic differences of cutaneous melanomas from different ethnicities and planning to extend to diverse cancer types.