Trainees

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

RyanLaneHeadshotTraining grant project: Role of lymphatic endothelial cells within melanoma tumors, in tumor tolerance by the immune system, and as potential clinical therapeutic targets for treatment of melanoma and possible biomarkers for risk stratification
Training grant mentor: McCarty/Lund
Current position: Ph.D. candidate, Lund Lab
Place: OHSU Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology

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.

SteelFinalPhotoTraining grant project: Determining the kinetics of intratumoral T cell egress and the molecularmechanisms governing lymphocyte egress in melanoma microenvironments
Training grant mentor: Lund
Current position: Postdoctoral researcher, Lund Lab
Place: OHSU Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology

 

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

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.

Training grant project: Spatiotemporal regulation of drug-induced dimerization of Raf isoforms in melanoma
Training grant mentor: Stork/Nan
Current position: Applications Development Engineer
Place: KLA-Tencor Corporation

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