I have a strong background in translational breast cancer research in the areas of cancer biology and molecular therapeutics, with specific training and expertise in the key research areas of EGFR/ERK signaling and in vivo modeling. As a Ph.D. student at The UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, I carried out preclinical research on the role of the HER2 pathway in chemosensitization of paclitaxel in breast cancer. In addition to my basic research background, I trained as a medical oncologist at MD Anderson and simultaneously learned how to conduct clinical research and perform data analysis related to breast cancer. I am now a practicing physician who has experience in conducting both targeted and gene therapy clinical trials.

Since becoming a faculty member at MD Anderson, I have expanded my research to include the EGFR/ERK pathway in both breast and ovarian cancer (HER2, JNK, TIG1, FOXO3, epigenetic, etc.). Over the past 10 years, I have successfully managed projects in breast cancer biology related to triple-negative breast cancer, inflammatory breast cancer, metastasis, cancer stem cells, and drug resistance of cancer cells. Currently I serve as an executive director of Morgan Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer (MWIBC) Research Program and Clinic and Section of Translational Breast Cancer Research (TBCR). MD Anderson MWIBC is the world’s largest IBC specific research program that conducts IBC-specific clinical trials, understanding the aggressiveness of cancers by studying cancer stem cells, and the impact of microenvironment (inflammation and immunological effect). For the section of TBCR, the program focuses on reducing the suffering of breast cancer patients through our unique, rapid drug development platforms via enhanced value of novel therapeutic approach and guiding to investigator-initiated clinical trials or standard of care.