CCR Milestones - 2020

Amy LeBlanc, D.V.M. Amy LeBlanc, D.V.M., has been appointed as a Senior Scientist in the Molecular Imaging Program. As Director of the Comparative Oncology Program, Dr. LeBlanc has a strong interest in animal modeling for development of new cancer drugs and imaging agents and identifi- cation of imaging biomarkers, development and optimization of PET imaging hardware and imaging protocols. Ji Luo, Ph.D. Ji Luo, Ph.D., has been awarded tenure at NIH and appointed to Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics. His laboratory investigates how mutant KRAS promotes tumor initiation, maintenance and metastasis. Jordan Meier, Ph.D. Jordan Meier, Ph.D., has been awarded tenure at NIH and appointed to Senior Investigator in the Chemical Biology Laboratory. Dr. Meier’s research focuses on the development of chemical approaches to study epigenetic signaling and its relationship to cellular metabolism. Meera Murgai, Ph.D. Meera Murgai, Ph.D., has joined the Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics as a Stadtman Tenure Track Investigator. Prior to her appointment, Dr. Murgai was a postdoctoral fellow in the Pediatric Oncology Branch. Her research centers on perivascular cell plasticity and heterogeneity in the metastatic microenvironment. Naris Nilubol, M.D. Naris Nilubol, M.D., has been appointed as a Physician-Scientist Early Investigator in the Surgical Oncology Program. His research focuses on identifying and utilizing the unique and specific dysregulated molecular pathways and altered multi-omics in endocrine tumors as targets for novel therapeutics and markers to predict treatment response. Shalini Oberdoerffer, Ph.D. Shalini Oberdoerffer, Ph.D., has been awarded tenure at NIH and appointed to Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Receptor Biology and Gene Expression. Her lab broadly examines how DNA and RNA epigenetics dynamically regulate gene expression. Ramya Ramaswami, M.B.B.S., M.P.H. Ramya Ramaswami, M.B.B.S., M.P.H., has been appointed as a Physician-Scientist Early Investigator in the HIV and AIDS Malignancy Branch. She focuses on Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus-associated diseases and other HIV-associated cancers, and her clinical studies will use immunotherapy and other targeted therapies for these rare conditions. 23