Solid Tumor Oncology | Hematology and Oncology Research

Abdel Alqwasmi, MD

Dr. Alqwasmi's research interests include breast cancer.

John Burfeind, MD

Dr. Burfeind's research interest includes enrolling patients with genitourinary malignancies and breast cancer in clinical trials. Additionally, he serves as the liaison between the Division of Hematology and Oncology and the Cancer Care Network in the community.

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Kathryn Bylow, MD | Section Chief

Dr. Bylow's research interest is in the treatment of genitourinary malignancies. She has a long-standing research interest in geriatric oncology and the long-term effects of cancer therapies. She is currently studying nutritional methods to forestall the loss of muscle mass seen in men treated with anti-androgen therapy in prostate cancer.

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John Charlson, MD

Dr. Charlson's research interests are focused on the care of patients with sarcoma and young adult cancer patients. Current efforts include chemotherapy clinical trials, evaluation of several potential biomarkers of treatment response, and cancer care process improvement.

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Lubna Chaudhary, MD, MS

Dr. Chaudhary's primary research interest is to better understand the biology of breast cancer tumors, as well as different hormone receptors and how they impact patient outcomes. She is working to identify new drug therapies to overcome cancer cell growth. Her investigator initiated clinical trial assessing neoadjuvant endocrine therapy and tumor molecular changes in patients with breast cancer was the recipient of funding from the Rock River Foundation and the MCW Cancer Center in 2017. Another investigator initiated clinical trial assessing the role of PD-1 inhibition in breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy was recently funded by a CTSI KL-2 grant funded by Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Research and Education Program (AHW REP).

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Hui-Zi Chen, MD, PhD

Dr. Chen is a physician scientist and thoracic medical oncologist whose research mission is to enable discovery of new therapeutic vulnerabilities in advanced solid cancers by leveraging her expertise in translational genomics and rapid research autopsy. She was a recipient of the ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award (2018-2019). Her research is currently supported by an NCI K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (2019-2024) and focuses on elucidating mechanisms of therapeutic resistance in relapsed small cell lung cancer through multi-omics characterization of metastatic tumor tissues and pre-clinical validation studies. Dr. Chen was formerly a faculty member at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus, Ohio (2019-2021). She is new to MCW and looks forward to forming new research and clinical collaborations to improve the care of lung cancer patients in Wisconsin.

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Yee Chung Cheng, MD

Dr. Cheng's research interest is in the development of clinical trials focusing on the investigative use of chemotherapy and/or novel therapy in high-risk breast cancer cases particularly the triple negative breast cancer or inflammatory breast cancer. Under his leadership, Froedtert Cancer Center/Medical College of Wisconsin has formed a new Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) team which is part of the international IBC Connect organized by MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Cheng is committed to provide the state-of-the-art management to this rare and aggressive type of breast cancer.

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Ben George, MD

Dr. George's research focus is on pancreatic and gastro-esophageal cancers. He is interested in experimental therapeutics, specifically, clinical trials targeting putative molecular mechanisms involved in the development and progression of gastrointestinal malignancies. He chairs the Molecular Tumor Board - a monthly meeting that analyzes genomic alterations in tumors to identify appropriate targeted treatment options. Further, he represents Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin at the Precision Medicine Exchange Consortium, of which MCW is a founding member. The goal of the consortium is to pool clinically annotated molecular data among member institutions and use that information to develop clinical trials aimed at actionable genomic alterations. He is the institutional Principal Investigator on several clinical trials in both Pancreatic and Gastro-esophageal Cancers.

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Thomas Giever, DO, MBA

Dr. Giever's main research interest is to enroll patients on genitourinary clinical trials. Additionally, he would like to build a robust general oncology clinical trial portfolio at the Drexel Town Square Health Center Cancer Center within the Froedtert Community Cancer Network and Division of Hematology and Oncology.

Sailaja Kamaraju, MD

Dr. Kamaraju has research interest in breast cancer and more specifically, how breast cancer mortality rates can be reduced in vulnerable, and underserved populations through community-based initiatives, for which she has received several Susan G. Komen grants. She works with Patient Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) evaluating cancer treatment related toxicities and cancer survivorship disparities.

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Mandana Kamgar, MD, MPH

Dr. Kamgar's research focus is on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, clinical trial development and translational research.

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Deepak Kilari, MD

Dr. Kilari's research focuses on genitourinary cancers, including early phase and translational trials. Dr. Kilari and his collaborators are also studying how copper transport proteins play an important role in the sensitivity of cancer cells to platinum-based chemotherapy, as well as the role of exosomes micro RNAs in predicting treatment responses in men with prostate cancer. He is also the Principal investigator of a phase 2 study looking at the role of upfront enzalutamide and dutasteride for elderly men with systemic prostate cancer. He is actively involved in outcomes research at the Clement J Zablocki VA Medical Center.

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Prabhas Mittal, MD

Dr. Mittal's research interests are in cooperative group clinical trials and drug development.

Ariel Nelson, MD

Dr. Nelson's primary research interests include genitourinary malignancies, immunotherapy and novel therapeutic and combination clinical trials.

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Robert Taylor, MD

Dr. Taylor's research interest is in head and neck cancers and malignant hematology.

James P. Thomas, MD, PhD

Dr. Thomas's research interest is in oncology drug development and the role of reactive oxygen species in cancer development and treatment.

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Jonathan Thompson, MD, MS

Dr. Thompson has interest in clinical and translational research related to thoracic malignancies, particularly regarding the use of immunotherapy and novel agents for the treatment of lung cancer. He is also interested in immunotherapy-related side effects and participates in translational and clinical research in this field.

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Stuart Wong, MD | Director, Disease Prevention Research Center

Dr. Wong conducts clinical research evaluating novel therapies for head and neck cancer, and in particular, agents that are used concurrently with radiation therapy. His research efforts include NCI funded clinical trials. His research also focuses on national patterns of care for head and neck cancer treatment, and mitigation of toxicity from head and neck cancer treatment, and cancer prevention. Dr. Wong is the lead investigator for the Lead Academic Participating Site (LAPS) of the NCI’s National Clinical Trial Network at MCW. MCW is one of the top 32 institutions in the country to receive a LAPS award. He also received an RO1 NIH grant with Ming You, MD. PhD, to study a new agent in patients with oral cancer.

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Solid Tumor Oncology Research at the Medical College of Wisconsin

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