The general focus of my research is to understand what drives the progression of preneoplastic disease into invasive cancer by applying the many systems developed for studying cancer to premalignant conditions with Barrett’s esophagus (BE) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) being a major focus. Currently, strategies to screen patients with BE to identify those at risk for or with early progression to cancer have not been very successful. Therefore, there is an urgent need to better understand the process of Barrett’s progression in order to distinguish those at risk of progression from the majority of patients who will never develop invasive cancer. Additionally, BE serves as an ideal model system for other cancers thought to develop in a similar manner (IBD-related colon cancer, ovarian cancer …). The overall goal of my research is to better understand the pathobiology of BE and delineate the process by which BE progresses to EAC with the long-term goal of developing better clinical biomarkers and strategies for risk stratification and therapy. Our work has helped redefine the genomic evolutionary process that occurs in BE as it progresses to EAC. Importantly, we have shown that some of these genomic events occur early in the progression process and may allow for early detection of high-risk lesions before cancer develops. However, our studies have also suggested that understanding non-genomic factors will also be important in developing new risk prediction, early detection, and treatment or prevention strategies. Efforts in the laboratory are focused on understanding how other ‘extrinsic’ factors, such as the BE microenvironment, influence the progression process. We have developed multiple laboratory techniques, such as spatial transcriptomics and in vitro/in vivo model systems, for a more in depth focus in this area.
Clinically, I am a Gastrointestinal and Molecular Pathologist in the Department of Pathology at the University of California San Francisco. I have extensive experience in the histological examination of Barrett’s esophagus as well as in the use of ‘omic’ and imaging analysis of small FFPE tissues. As part of my clinical duties I have helped develop multiple assays within clinical laboratories.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
| Institution | Degree | Start Date | Completion Date | Field of Study |
| The Ohio State University | B.S. | 1996 | 2001 | Chemical Engineering |
| The Ohio State University | Ph.D. | 2001 | 2007 | Molecular Biology |
| The Ohio State University | M.D. | 2001 | 2009 | Medicine |
| Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School | 2009 | 2011 | Resident, Pathology | |
| Harvard Medical School | 2011 | 2012 | Fellow, Molecular Pathology | |
| Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School | 2012 | 2013 | Resident/Gastrointestinal | |
| Dana Farber Cancer Institute | 2013 | 2019 | Research Fellow |
PRINCIPAL POSITIONS HELD
| 2013-2019 | Harvard Medical School | Instructor | Pathology |
| 2013-2019 | Brigham and Women's Hospital | Associate Physician | Pathology |
| 2019 - 2024 | University of California, San Francisco | Assistant Professor | Pathology |
| 2024-present | University of California, San Francisco | Associate Professor | Pathology |