Assunta De Rienzo, Ph, is co-Director of the Thoracic Surgery Laboratory in the Department of Surgery, Thoracic Division, at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA. Additionally, she is an Instructor in Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Dr. De Rienzo earned her Ph.D. at the University of Naples in Italy, and completed her postdoctoral training at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA. She has a broad experience in cancer genetics and molecular biology, with special training and expertise in malignant pleural mesothelioma, a rare and lethal thoracic malignancy. Her long-term career goals include pursuing a career as independent investigator in cancer research, specifically focusing on genetics and genomics of mesothelioma. Her current research focuses on the analysis of whole-genome data in mesothelioma tumors with the aim of identifying genes and/or molecular pathways specific to this cancer as potential new therapeutic targets. She is also interested in ethical concerns as they apply to the field of pharmacogenomics, the development of novel theranostics, the collection and storage of genetic data, and to safeguarding access to genetic databases. She has recently received a fellowship in Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School.