Honors, Awards + Achievements
Jonathan D. Licht, M.D.
Jonathan D. Licht, M.D., was named the inaugural editor-in-chief of Blood Neoplasia, a new journal from the American Society of Hematology. In addition, he participated in a panel, titled “Transition to Post-Treatment Care,” at Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s Cancer Survivorship Summit on Oct. 16 at Nova Southeastern University. The UF Health Cancer Center’s community outreach and engagement team also participated in the event.
Thomas George, M.D.
Thomas George, M.D., FACP, received a Clinician Scientist R50 Award from the National Cancer Institute. In addition, he delivered a talk on NCI designation at the UF Eye Opener breakfast on Sept. 13.
Brian Ramnaraign, M.D., and Sherise Rogers, M.D.
Brian Ramnaraign, M.D., was a panelist on the Genitourinary Cancel Panel at the SEEK Color Workshop. Sherise Rogers, M.D., was a panelist on the Gastrointestinal Cancer Panel. The diversity, equity and inclusion accountability workshop was put on by the oncology education company Total Health on Oct. 14 in Fort Lauderdale.
Matthew Disney, Ph.D.
Matthew Disney, Ph.D., gave the keynote lecture on the sequence-based design of small molecules targeting RNA at the UF Chemistry-Biology Interface (UF CBI) Mini-Symposium on Oct. 14.
Mattia Propseri, Ph.D., and Ji-Hyun Lee, DrPH
Mattia Propseri, Ph.D., and Ji-Hyun Lee, DrPH, were panelists on a session, titled “AI in Health: The Perils of AI Learning from Healthcare Data,” on Oct. 18 during the UF AI Days.
Diana Wilkie, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN
Diana Wilkie, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, and the CaRE2 Health Equity Center received a U54 funding renewal from the National Cancer Institute. Drs. John Allen, Thomas Schmittgen and Jatinder Lamba also received funding through the grant.
John Allen, Pharm.D.
John Allen, Pharm.D., was elected chair elect of the Health Disparities and Cultural Competency Special Interest Group of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
John Ligon, M.D.
John Ligon, M.D., received the Minority Young Investigator award at the Children’s Oncology Group fall meeting.
Erin Mobley, Ph.D.
Erin Mobley, Ph.D., presented a poster, titled “Care engagement along the cancer survivorship care continuum for childhood, adolescent, and young adult cancer survivors,” at the Cancer Center Survivorship Research Forum at Stanford University.
Maryam Rahman, Ph.D.
Maryam Rahman, Ph.D., received the 2023 Best Brain Tumor Paper of the Year at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting, held Sept. 9-13 in Washington, D.C.
Padraic O’Malley, M.D.
Padraic O’Malley, M.D., showcased his expertise as a panelist on a case-based panel discussion on “approaches to complex robotic partial nephrectomy” at the Florida Urological Society Annual Meeting, held Aug. 31 to Sept. 3 in Orlando. He also served on an expert panel on challenging bladder cancer cases.
Bently Doonan, M.D.
Bently Doonan, M.D., gave a presentation at the Symposium on IRAK4 in Cancer presented by Curis on Sept. 22.
Kendall Nettles, Ph.D.
Kendall Nettles, Ph.D., received a five-year, $2.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study the molecular mechanisms of hormone therapies to treat breast cancer.
Jane Aldrich, Ph.D.
Jane Aldrich, Ph.D., was awarded $150,000 from the Parkinson’s Foundation with co-investigator Paramita Chakrabarty, Ph.D., in the department of neuroscience. The project, titled “Exploration of compounds that target alpha-synuclein phosphorylation,” will evaluate the lead compound in mouse models of aSyn pathology to demonstrate that it can modulate PP2A and aSyn. The team will screen analogs of the lead compound in a cellular model to identify compounds with enhanced potency to modulate PP2A and decrease aSyn phosphorylation.
Robert Amdur, M.D., Raymond Mailhot Vega, M.D., and Anamaria Yeung, M.D.
Several faculty in the department of radiation oncology presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s 65th Annual Meeting, held Oct. 1-4 at the San Diego Convention Center. Robert Amdur, M.D., presented “PRO Perspective on Desired Submissions”; Raymond Mailhot Vega, M.D., presented “Update in Pediatric Radiation Therapy: What Is New” and “Interventional and Epidemiological Methodologies in Global Health” and Anamaria Yeung, M.D., presented “Panel 03 – Let’s Talk About It: Sexual Health after Pelvic Radiation.”
Erin Mobley, Ph.D., Leighton Elliott, M.D., and Raymond Mailhot Vega, M.D.
Erin Mobley, Ph.D., served as a moderator of a session, titled “The cost of battle: Beyond hospital walls,” at the Live Like Bella® Pediatric Cancer Research Symposium. Leighton Elliott, M.D., served a panelist during a session, titled “What have we learned? What promise does the future hold?” Raymond Mailhot Vega, M.D., served as panelist on a session, titled “Beginning with the end in mind: Helping survivors thrive.”
In addition, Mailhot Vega received a Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Career Development Award.
Sherise Rogers, M.D., Lakeshia Cousin, Ph.D., APRN, AGPCNP-BC, Kristianna Fredenburg, M.D., Ph.D., Corey Perkins
Sherise Rogers, M.D., Lakeshia Cousin, Ph.D., APRN, AGPCNP-BC, Kristianna Fredenburg, M.D., Ph.D., and Corey Perkins, who are part of the CaRE2 Health Equity Center, were recognized or honored by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) as they participated in two conferences.
Mohammed Gbadamosi, Ph.D.
Mohammed Gbadamosi, Ph.D., received a High Risk-High Reward grant called an Early Independence Award from the National Institutes of Health’s Common Fund. The grant, worth up to $1.25 million over five years, will enable him to launch his own independent academic research laboratory.
Thomas Kodadek, Ph.D.
Thomas Kodadek, Ph.D., received a Transformative Research Award grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Common Fund. The grant, worth up to $4.1 million over five years, will allow him to study whether new potential therapeutics designed to lure disease-driving proteins directly into cells’ internal disposal machinery could be a promising strategy against cancer and other diseases.
Lina Cui, Ph.D.
Lina Cui, Ph.D., received a $419,375 R21 award from the National Institutes on Aging to develop a molecular probe for real-time selective detection of cellular senescence in pancreatic islets.
Lisa Scarton, Ph.D.
Lisa Scarton, Ph.D., was among 253 distinguished nurse leaders inducted as American Academy of Nursing Fellow at the Academy’s annual Health Policy Conference held Oct. 5-7 in Washington, D.C.
Lakeshia Cousin, Ph.D., APRN, AGPCNP-BC
Lakeshia Cousin, Ph.D., APRN, AGPCNP-BC, was a co-author on a paper that received the 2023 Excellence in Policy Paper Award from Nursing Outlook, the official journal of the American Academy of Nursing, titled “Defining the social determinants of health for nursing action to achieve health equity: A consensus paper from the American Academy of Nursing.”
Bruno Hochhegger, M.D., Ph.D., received a 2023 Exemplary Teacher Award from the UF College of Medicine.
Lakeshia Cousin, Ph.D., APRN, AGPCNP-BC, LaTrina Massey, M.P.H., Lisa Spiguel, M.D.
Lakeshia Cousin, Ph.D., APRN, AGPCNP-BC, LaTrina Massey, M.P.H., and Lisa Spiguel, M.D., were panelists at the Our Community Our Health Town Hall, titled “Inspire Hope, Take Action: A Breast Cancer Awareness Town Hall,” on Oct. 20.
Chenglong Li, Ph.D., and Robert Huigens, Ph.D.
Chenglong Li, Ph.D., received a two-year, $478,000 award from the U.S. Department of Defense for a project titled, “Developing YAP/TEAD Inhibitors for Novel Nash-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma Therapeutics.”
In addition, Li and Robert Huigens, Ph.D., are Co-Is on a five-year $2.5 million NICDR R01 with PI Dr. Jose Lemos in the UF College of Dentistry, titled “Mechanisms of Metal Ion Homeostasis of Oral Streptococci.”
Francisco Marchi and Nam Nguyen, Pharm.D.
Francisco Marchi, a graduate student in the lab of Jatinder Lamba, Ph.D., was awarded a diversity supplement through Lamba’s R01, titled “Genomics of AML Prognosis.”
Nam Nguyen, Pharm.D., who also works in Lamba’s lab, was awarded a $10,000 predoctoral fellowship from the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education.
Staff honors
Alison Ivey, R.N., M.S., M.B.A., OCN, CCRP, and Erin Monari, Ph.D., CCRP
Alison M. Ivey, R.N., M.S., M.B.A., OCN, CCRP, was promoted to associate director for administration and chief administrative officer at the UF Health Cancer Center. Erin Monari, Ph.D., CCRP, was named administrative director of the Clinical Research Office.
Eric Miller, M.B.A., C.R.A.
Eric Miller, M.B.A., C.R.A., director of research administration at the UF Health Cancer Center, was selected as a traveling workshop faculty member with the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA).
Julie Thomas, M.Ed.
Julie Thomas, M.Ed., assistant director of talent development, was selected into the inaugural UF Leadership Coaching Cohort. The purpose of this cohort is to foster leadership growth within a group of peers. These sessions will be facilitated by a UF Training & Development certified coach, and cohort members will provide and gain support from the group as we explore ways to further develop leadership skills and solve challenging issues.