Major Research Areas of Division Faculty

Division researchers and clinicians are at the forefront of cancer research and treatment and provide the highest quality medical care available today. Following is a synopsis that reflects some of the major research areas of our faculty.

  • Oncogenes and growth factor receptors in the pathogenesis of breast cancer; receptor tyrosine kinases as targets for antitumor therapy; molecular therapeutics in breast carcinoma
  • Molecular genetics of human solid tumors and the translation of these findings into clinical application
  • Molecular fingerprinting of solid and hematologic malignancies using cDNA microarrays and MALDI-MS technologies
  • Cancer drug pharmacology
  • Study of leukemogenesis
  • Retroviral mediated gene transfer into hematopoietic stem cells; development of lentiviral vectors to achieve increased transduction of nondividing target cells
  • New drug development (Phase I and Phase II)
  • Clinical translational research programs exist in multiple diseases including thoracic, breast, GI, GU, H&N and hematologic malignancies
Clinical research award
Ben Ho Park, MD, PhD, left, former director of the Division of Hematology and Oncology, Jordan Berlin, MD, interim director of the division and recipient of the 2022 Grant W. Liddle Award, and Dr. Jeffrey Balser, president and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center.