Current Trainees

Evan Carpenter

Training grant project: The role of thioredoxin reductase 1 (TR1) inmelanocyte homeostasis
Training grant mentor: Indra
Current position: Ph.D. Candidate, Indra and Cassidy Labs
Place: OSU College of Pharmacy; OHSU Department of Dermatology

Ryan Lane, Ph.D. candidate

Olivia Lucero, M.D.

Training grant project: Genomic and functional screening approaches toward the identification ofmechanistic and novel therapeutic targets in CTCL
Training grant mentor: Druker
Current position: Postdoctoral researcher, Druker Lab; Dermatology resident
Place: OHSU Knight Cancer Institute; Department of Dermatology

Maria Steele, Ph.D.

Alumni

Sophia Bornstein, M.D., Ph.D.

Training grant project: Role of Smad4 in HNSCC tumorigenesis
Training grant mentor: Wang (former mentor)
Current position: Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology
Place: Weill Cornell Medicine

Marcus Calkins, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Activation of base excision repair for ultraviolet light-induced DNA damage
Training grant mentor: Lloyd
Current position: Assistant Professor, Institute of Clinical Medicine
Place: National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

Tim Carey, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Role of USP36 in skin inflammation and cancer
Training grant mentor: Dai
Current position: Scientist
Place: MPI Research

Daniel Coleman, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Functional signaling between keratinocytes and melanocytes altered during UV induced melanomagenesis
Training grant mentor: Indra
Current position: Postdoctoral researcher, Alumkal lab
Place: OHSU Knight Cancer Institute

Paige Davies, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Role of Wnt and Notch signaling pathways in IBD disease pathology and re-establishment of epithelial homeostasis
Training grant mentor: Wong
Current position: Science writer

Amy Farrell, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Role of altered c-Myc phos-phorylation and stability in the generation of SCC
Training grant mentor: Sears

Erin Fitch Foster, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Role of interleukin (IL)-23 in psoriasis and cancer
Training grant mentor: Blauvelt (former mentor)
Current position: Resident
Place: Oregon Health and Science University

Jayme Gallegos, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Regulation of the transcription factor p63
Training grant mentor: Kulesz-Martin
Current position: Assistant Professor, Chiropractic Program
Place: University of Western States

Gloria Garcia, Ph.D. candidate

Training grant project: Function of vitamin D receptor in UV induced homeostasis and melanocyte melanomagenesis
Training grant mentor: Indra
Current position: Fellow
Place: NIH, NCI

Dan Gareau, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Advancing skin cancer detection by microscopy
Training grant mentor: Jacques
Current position: Instructor in Clinical Investigation
Place: Rockefeller University Laboratory of Investigative Dermatology

Charlie Gast, M.D., Ph.D.

Training grant project: Cancer-macrophage fusion as a mechanism for metastases
Training grant mentor: Gast/Wong
Current position: Otolaryngology resident
Place: University of Wisconsin-Madison

Sean Gross, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Biasing stem cell fate through IGF/AKT pathway
Training grant mentor: Rotwein (former mentor)
Current position: Staff Scientist
Place: OHSU OCSSB

David Halladin, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Non-genetic mechanisms in tumor progression in a murine model of squamous cell carcinoma
Training grant mentor: Coussens/Oshimori

Stephen Hyter, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Cooperative effects of keratinocytic RXRa and activated CDK4 in carcinogen induced melanomagenesis
Training grant mentor: Indra
Current position: Postdoctoral researcher, Godwin Lab
Place: University of Kansas Medical Center

Jodi Johnson, Ph.D.

Training grant project: The p53 family interacting pathways in Jodi and cellular response to DNA damage carcinogenesis
Training grant mentor: Kulesz-Martin
Current position: Research Assistant Professor, Green Lab
Place: Northwestern University School of Medicine

Chelsey Kline, Ph.D.

Training grant project:  Genetic determinants of antioxidant response in human melanocytes—effects on efficacy of melanoma chemoprevention agents
Training grant mentor: Leachman/Cassidy
Current position: Instructor, Leachman/Cassidy Labs
Place: Department of Dermatology

Trevor Levin, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Cancer stem cells: expression patterns and disease prognosis
Training grant mentor: Wong
Current position: Chief Executive Officer
Place: Convergent Genomics

Yanping Li, Ph.D.

Training grant project: The role of Rap1 in nuclear transport
Training grant mentor: Stork

Chris Loo, Ph.D.

Training grant project: T lymphocyte modulation of PD-L1 expression on lymphatic vessels and the consequent localized adaptive immune response in melanoma
Training grant mentor: Lund
Current position: Postdoctoral researcher, Lind Lab
Place: Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology

Quentin Low, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Rap1 and adhesion
Training grant mentor: Stork
Current position: Staff Scientist
Place: Thermo Fisher Scientific

Stephen Paul Malkoski, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Mechanisms by which defective Malkoski signaling leads to the development of lung TGFbeta squamous cell carcinoma
Training grant mentor: Wang (former mentors)
Current position: Associate Professor
Place: University of Colorado Denver Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Sciences & Critical Care Medicine

Terry Medler, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Role and functional consequences of CD8+ T cells in regulating the vascular (re)programming of signaling pathways in neoplastic skin angiogenic
Training grant mentor: Coussens
Current position: Postdoctoral researcher
Place: Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology

Marcus Monroe, M.D.

Training grant project: Cancer stem cell expression and its relationship to head and neck prognosis
Training grant mentor: Wong
Current position: Assistant Professor
Place: University of Utah, Division of Otolaryngology

Phil Owens, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Smad4 functions in the skin
Training grant mentor: Wang (former mentor)
Current position: Assistant Professor of Pathology
Place: University of Colorado School of Medicine

Elyse Paterson-Coleman, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Mechanisms of melanoma invasion and metastasis
Training grant mentor: Courtneidge
Current position: Postdoctoral researcher, Courtneidge Lab
Place: OHSU Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology

Carey Phelps, Ph.D.

Kevin Phillips, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Application of novel optical methods use in imaging cancers, inflammatory responses and wound healing
Training grant mentor: Jacques
Current position: Data Operations Engineer
Place: Convergent Genomics

Quinn Roth-Carter, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Eosinophil and sensory nerve interactions in the immune response
Training grant mentor: Jacoby
Current position: Postdoctoral researcher, Green Lab
Place: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Michael Siegel, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Correlative electron and fluorescence microscopy to study cell signaling in cancer
Training grant mentor: Jacques
Current position: Director of Research and Vice Executive Director
Place: PeDRA

Alain Silk, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Tumor cell fusion in cancer progression
Training grant mentor: Wong
Current position: Reviewer
Place: US Food and Drug Administration

Nick Smith, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Investigating the role of the stem cell niche marker CD166 in intestinal homeostasis
Training grant mentor: Wong
Current position: R&D Scientist
Place: Sedia Biosciences Corp.

Erin Harper Stevens, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Involvement of IL-23 and the Th17 T cell immune response in human OHSU cutaneous inflammatory disease
Training grant mentor:  Blauvelt (former mentor)
Current position: Principal Scientist
Place:  Pfizer

Sara Tokarz, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Collaboration between Skp2 and Tokarz-c in epithelial Myc
Training grant mentor: Sears

Garth Tormoen, M.D., Ph.D.

Training grant project: Characterization of the physical parameters of epithelial cells as a function of malignant progression
Training grant mentor: Tormoen
Current position: Resident
Place: Department of Radiation Medicine

Meghan Lindauer Vyleta, Ph.D.

Training grant project: The role of alveolar macrophages in the inflammatory response in lung epithelium
Training grant mentor: Magun (former mentor)

Joshua Walker, M.D., Ph.D.

Training grant project: Characterization, and optimization of CD8+ T cell responses to inactivated viral antigens
Training grant mentor: Slifka 
Current position: Assistant Professor
Place: OHSU Department of Radiation Medicine

Cortny Williams, Ph.D.

Training grant project: Role of T cells in TGFb1 mediated skin inflammation
Training grant mentor: Wang (former mentor)
Current position: Assistant Professor, Chiropractic Program
Place: University of Western States

Aaron Wortham, M.S.

Training grant project: Role of Trim32 in squamous cell carcinoma
Training grant mentor: Kulesz-Martin
Current position: Research Assistant
Place: Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology