HEADLINES

Ji-Hyun Lee, DrPH, has been elevated to a new role as associate director for cancer quantitative sciences. In this role, she will provide high-level strategic leadership and administrative direction for Cancer Center researchers. This support aims to ensure high-quality data, rigorous and reproducible analyses, and effective reporting, fostering collaborative team-based scientific endeavors.

The ultimate goal of the project led by Wesley Bolch, Ph.D., is to revolutionize cancer patient care by enhancing the effectiveness of radiopharmaceutical therapy, especially with alpha-particle emitters, promising minimal side effects.

UF Health researchers have shown in a pilot study that a noninvasive method of blood testing can effectively detect cancerous liver tumors and evaluate changes in the disease during treatment. The preliminary findings indicate that the technique, measuring methylated circulating tumor DNA, or ctDNA, could allow physicians to assess patients’ tumor burden without the need for invasive tumor biopsies.

Leighton Elliott, M.D., chief UF hematology and oncology fellow, has received a 2023 Kate Amato Foundation Grant Award for Innovative Pediatric Cancer Research. 

The UF Health Proton Therapy Institute Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Kristin A. Heath, DBA, MBA, MHA, an accomplished radiation oncology and proton therapy leader, has been appointed as executive director.

Laura Parra, M.P.H., CHES, a community programs specialist with the UF Health Cancer Center’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement, has been selected for a 10-week certificate program in community outreach and engagement run by Cedars-Sinai Cancer Center.

University of Florida researchers have developed a new algorithm to predict which proteins expressed within brain tumor cells could serve as targets to stimulate a potent anti-tumor response. The preclinical study in mice is the latest step toward overcoming common resistance to immunotherapy treatments for brain cancer.

A research team led by UF Radiation Oncology Professor and Chair Paul Okunieff, M.D., has received a $14,931 grant from the Florida Breast Cancer Foundation to provide medical items to breast cancer patients and survivors.

Alexi Hernandez Alvarez, a second-year Master of Public Health student in the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions with a concentration in population health management, has been selected for the UF Health Cancer Center’s Cancer Policy Internship.