I am an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery - Division of Surgical Oncology at The Ohio State University and a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James. I am focused on better understanding the immune response during carcinogenesis and why the immune system has failed to control solid tumors. My research is primarily centered on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), a notoriously immunotherapy resistant malignancy.

My lab team is specifically investigating how B lymphocytes regulate and support innate and adaptive tumor immunity during malignant progression and response to therapy. We deploy preclinical models of cancer that most closely align with the human disease and validate these findings with patient tissue samples. We seek to understand the mechanistic underpinnings of novel cellular pathways and develop strategies for clinical translation. This approach intersects with experimental methods in cell biology, molecular biology, bioinformatics and clinical medicine.

My work has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals, including Nature Communications, Cancer Discovery, Cancer Cell, Oncoimmunology, and Lancet Oncology. Much of this research has been presented at national and international biomedical and clinical conferences and has translated into multiple clinical trial protocols. I have also been honored with awards from organizations such as the American Society of Radiation Oncology and engaged in various industry sponsored research agreements. I am a member of and active in the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer which has long supported immunotherapy as a curative option for cancer patients.