New Faculty

Kenneth Aldape, M.D.

Kenneth Aldape, M.D., has joined CCR as Chief of the Laboratory of Pathology. His research interests focus on the molecular pathogenesis and classification of brain tumors, particularly malignant gliomas and meningiomas.

Chongyi Chen, Ph.D.

Chongyi Chen, Ph.D., has joined the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as a Stadtman Tenure Track Investigator. His work explores the interface between DNA sequence, chromosome organization and gene expression in both bulk samples and single cells from a genome-wide perspective.

Yamini Dalal, Ph.D.

Yamini Dalal, Ph.D., has been awarded tenure at NIH and appointed to Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Receptor Biology and Gene Expression. Her laboratory is investigating how histone complexes adopt alternate structural conformations in cancer cells and the functional consequences of such alterations on the cancer epigenome.

S. Perwez Hussain, Ph.D.

S. Perwez Hussain, Ph.D., has been awarded tenure at NIH and appointed to Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis. His research is focused on identifying novel therapeutic targets in pancreatic cancer, one of the most lethal malignancies.

Jennifer Jones, M.D., Ph.D.

Jennifer Jones, M.D., Ph.D., has joined the Laboratory of Pathology as a Stadtman Tenure Track Investigator. As a radiation oncologist, her current research is aimed at developing immune-based therapies that synergize with radiation to produce optimal anti-tumor immune responses.

Christopher Kanakry, M.D.

Christopher Kanakry, M.D., has been appointed as an NIH Lasker Scholar Tenure Track Investigator in the Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch. He pursues basic, translational and clinical research related to allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Eros Lazzerini Denchi, Ph.D.

Eros Lazzerini Denchi, Ph.D., has joined the Laboratory of Genome Integrity as a Stadtman Tenure Track Investigator. His research focuses on two fundamental aspects of telomere biology: the mechanism by which functional telomeres prevent DNA damage activation and the in vivo consequences of telomere dysfunction.

Andres Lebensohn, Ph.D.

Andres Lebensohn, Ph.D., has joined the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology as a Stadtman Tenure Track Investigator. He will develop a research program on understanding how signaling pathways are used, reused and repurposed to drive the myriad cellular processes that give rise to and maintain tissues and organs. Based on this understanding, he hopes to devise more selective therapies to target tumors driven by dysregulated WNT signaling.

Ravi Madan, M.D.

Ravi Madan, M.D., has been appointed as a Senior Clinician in the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch. His clinical research investigates immune-stimulating therapies and prostate cancer. Specifically, Dr. Madan’s clinical trials are designed to develop a better understanding of how immune-stimulating therapies can improve clinical outcomes and be combined with other therapies.

Frank Maldarelli, M.D., Ph.D.

Frank Maldarelli, M.D., Ph.D., has been awarded tenure at NIH and appointed to Senior Investigator in the HIV Dynamics and Replication Program. He develops and implements clinical protocols to elucidate mechanisms underlying the emergence of HIV drug resistance in vivo, the dynamics of infection under treatment and the role of resistance mutations in the efficacy and failure of subsequent treatments.

Claudia Palena, Ph.D.

Claudia Palena, Ph.D., has been awarded tenure at NIH and appointed to Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology. Her laboratory studies the immunological targeting of drivers of tumor dissemination and resistance to therapy.

Arun Rajan, M.D.

Arun Rajan, M.D., has been appointed as a Senior Clinician in the Thoracic and GI Malignancies Branch. In his clinical research he develops new therapies for patients with lung cancer and thymic malignancies.

Mark Roschewski, M.D.

Mark Roschewski, M.D., has been appointed as a Senior Clinician in the Lymphoid Malignancies Branch. His research focuses on the management of aggressive B-cell lymphomas including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma and primary CNS lymphomas.

Sergio Ruiz Macias, Ph.D.

Sergio Ruiz Macias, Ph.D., has joined the Laboratory of Genome Integrity as a Stadtman Tenure Track Investigator. Dr. Ruiz Macias seeks to elucidate mechanisms of cell plasticity, pluripotency and differentiation with the goal of understanding embryonic development, cell transformation and cancer.

Eytan Ruppin, M.D., Ph.D.

Eytan Ruppin, M.D., Ph.D., has joined CCR as the Chief of the newly established Cancer Data Science Laboratory. He develops and harnesses data science approaches for the integration of multi-omics data to better understand the pathogenesis of cancer, its evolution and treatment.

Samira Sadowski, M.D.

Samira Sadowski, M.D., has been appointed as an Assistant Clinical Investigator in the Surgical Oncology Program. Her research will identify diagnostic and prognostic markers for endocrine tumors and develop new therapies for such tumors.

Martin Schnermann, Ph.D.

Martin Schnermann, Ph.D., has been awarded tenure at NIH and appointed to Senior Investigator in the Chemical Biology Laboratory. His research group designs and synthesizes the molecules needed to craft new near-infrared optical drug delivery and imaging methods.

Jack Shern, M.D.

Jack Shern, M.D., has been appointed as an NIH Lasker Scholar Tenure Track Investigator in the Pediatric Oncology Branch. His research is aimed at defining and developing precision therapies targeting the genetic mutations that drive tumorigenesis.

Yousuke Takahama, Ph.D.

Yousuke Takahama, Ph.D., has joined the Experimental Immunology Branch as a Senior Investigator. His research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in building functionally competent thymus microenvironments and in governing thymic selection to generate a functionally competent repertoire of mature T cells.

Naomi Taylor, M.D., Ph.D.

Naomi Taylor, M.D., Ph.D., has joined CCR as a Senior Investigator in the Pediatric Oncology Branch. During the next few years, she aims to combine fundamental and translational approaches to respond to key questions addressing the metabolic regulation of T-cell effector function and hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) differentiation in pediatric cancer patients and develop intrathymic-based strategies that enhance thymocyte differentiation and T-cell function.

Joana Vidigal, Ph.D.

Joana Vidigal, Ph.D., has joined the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as a Stadtman Tenure Track Investigator. She will work toward understanding the mechanisms through which small noncoding-RNA pathways regulate gene expression during animal development, tissue homeostasis and disease.

Jing Wu, M.D., Ph.D.

Jing Wu, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed as an NIH Lasker Scholar Tenure Track Investigator in the Neuro-Oncology Branch. She is interested in translational research in neuro-oncology focusing on developing preclinical testing and hypothesis-based clinical trials of glioma treatments.