About

Leadership

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Andrew Godwin, Ph.D.
Chancellors Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Sciences Endowed Professor
Professor and Director, Molecular Oncology, University of Kansas Medical Center
Division Director of Genomic Diagnostics, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, The University of Kansas Medical Center
Deputy Director, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
Director, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE
Director, Biospecimen Shared Resource
Kansas Bioscience Authority Eminent Scholar
Email: agodwin@kumc.edu
Assistant: Juliet McDiffett, jmcdiffett2@kumc.edu

Steven A. Soper, Ph.D.
Foundation Distinguished Professor
Department of Chemistry
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Director, Center of BioModular Multiscale Systems for Precision Medicine, University of Kansas
Director, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE
Associate Editor, Analyst
Adjunct Professor, Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology
William H. Pryor Emeritus Chair of Chemistry (LSU)
Chief Science Officer, BioFluidica, Inc.
Chief Science Officer, Digital NanoGenetics, LLC
Email: ssoper@ku.edu
Assistant: Jo Sabus, josabus@ku.edu

Alan Yu, MB, BChir
Harry Statland and Solon Summerfield Professor of Medicine
Director, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension and The Kidney Institute
Director, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE
University of Kansas Medical Center
Email: ayu@kumc.edu

Dingran Chang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Kansas
Email: dingran.chang@ku.edu

Project: Aptamer-Based Extracellular Vesicle Protein Profiling for Prognostic Assessment in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Naisi Zhao, DrPH
Assistant Professor, Biostatistics & Data Science
Email: nzhao@kumc.edu

Project: Guild-Based Microbiome Biomarkers of Precision Risk Stratification for Obesity-related Cancer

Diane E. Mahoney, Ph.D., DNP, FNP-BC, WHNP-BC, APRN
Assistant Professor, School Of Nursing
Research Project Leader, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE
Email: dmahoney@kumc.edu

Project: Integrative Analysis of the Blood Plasma and Tumor Microbiome: A Novel Approach to Liquid Biopsy Screening for Early Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Detection

Kalyani Pyaram, Ph.D., DNP, FNP-BC, WHNP-BC, APRN
Assistant Professor, Cancer Biology
Email: kpyaram@kumc.edu

Project: Enhancing the Efficacy of T-cells and immunotherapies by precision targeting of Nrf2 using PROTACs

Previous Research Project Leader, Feb. 2023 to Jan 2026

Olivia Veatch, Ph.D.
Project: Deciphering genetic pleitropy to inform precision psychiatry
Mentors: Mihaela Sardiu, PhD, Michael Washburn, Ph.D.

Previous Research Project Leader, Mar 2023 to Feb 2026

Andrés M. Bur, M.D., FACS
Project: The role of chronic lung disease in autoantibody generation; a novel precision medicine description
Mentors: Sufi Thomas, PhD, Devin Koestler, PhD

Previous Research Project Leader, Feb. 2022 to May 2025

Scott Matson, M.D.
Project: The role of chronic lung disease in autoantibody generation; a novel precision medicine description

Mentors: Mario Castro, M.D., MPH and Michael Washburn, Ph.D.

Previous Research Project Leader, Jan. 2022 to Dec. 2023

Shane Stecklein, M.D., Ph.D.
Project: Detection of Minimal Residual Disease in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Mentor: Priyanka Sharma, M.D.

Previous Research Project Leader, Fall 2019 to Fall 2022

Leonidas Bantis, Ph.D.
Project: Discovery, Evaluation, and Clinical Utility of Biomarkers for the Early Detection of Disease

Mentors: Francisco J. Diaz, Ph.D. and Liskin Swint-Kruse, Ph.D.
Ryan S. Funk, PharmD, Ph.D.
Project: Metabolomic Markers of Disease Activity and Therapeutic Response in Autoimmune Arthritis

Mentors: Mara L. Beck, M.D., MSCE, and Teruna J. Siahaan, Ph.D.
Gregory N. Gan, M.D., Ph.D.
Project: MK2 Activation Research

Mentors: Joaquina C. Baranda, M.D. and Sufi Thomas, Ph.D.

Previous Research Project Leader, Jan. 2019 to Jan. 2022

Shellie D. Ellis, M.A., Ph.D.
Project: Nasal Lavage Exosome Analysis

Mentors: Elizabeth Wulff-Burchfield, M.D. and Edward Ellerbeck, M.D., MPH
Deepika Polineni, M.D., MPH
Project: Precision Community Research Study

Mentors: Navneet Dhillon, Ph.D., Matthias Salathe, M.D. and Steven A. Weinman, M.D., Ph.D.

Cheryl L. Jernigan, CPA, FACHE (PACE)
Survivor of Breast Cancer, co-Survivor of HPV Tonsil Cancer & Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Lead Patient Advocate & Co-Leader, Patient and Community Engagement, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE
Lead Patient Advocate, Patient & Investigator Voices Organizing Together, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
Lead Patient Advocate, Greater Plains Collaborative, University of Kansas Medical Center
Lead Patient Advocate and Co-Leader, Patient Partners group, Frontiers: University of Kansas Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Email: callcjjj@gmail.com

Hope Krebill, MSW, BSN, RN
Assistant Director, Outreach, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
Executive Director, Masonic Cancer Alliance
Co-Leader, Patient and Community Engagement Core, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE
Email: hkrebill@kumc.edu

Tonia Yelder
Co-Leader, Patient and Community Engagement Core, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE
Patient and Community Engagement Manager, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
Email: tyelder@kumc.edu

Harsh Pathak, Ph.D. (BBV Core)
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Director, Biomarker Discovery Lab
Co-Director, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE BBV Core
Email: hpathak@kumc.edu

Steven Hyter, Ph.D. (BBV Core)
Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Director, Clinical Molecular Oncology Laboratory, Department of Pathology & Laboratory MedicineCo-Director, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE BBV Core
Email: shyter@kumc.edu

Devin Koestler, Ph.D. (QOC)
Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Data Science, University of Kansas School of Medicine
Director, Quantitative Omics Core, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE
Director (KUMC-site), Biostatistics and Informatics Shared Resource, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
Email: dkoestler@kumc.edu

Jeffrey A. Thompson, Ph.D. (QOC)
Assistant Professor, Department of Biostatistics & Data Science, University of Kansas School of Medicine
Associate Director, Quantitative Omics Core, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE
Co-Director, Curated Cancer Clinical Outcomes Database, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
Email: jthompson21@kumc.edu

Steven A. Soper, Ph.D. (BME)
Foundation Distinguished Professor
Department of Chemistry
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Director, Center of BioModular Multiscale Systems for Precision Medicine, University of Kansas
Director, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE
Associate Editor, Analyst
Adjunct Professor, Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology
William H. Pryor Emeritus Chair of Chemistry (LSU)
Chief Science Officer, BioFluidica, Inc.
Chief Science Officer, Digital NanoGenetics, LLC
Email: ssoper@ku.edu
Assistant: Jo Sabus, josabus@ku.edu

Malgorzata (Maggie) A. Witek, Ph.D. (BME)
Associate Research Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Kansas
Associate Research Professor, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine, COBRE
Director, Training and Dissemination program, Center of BioModular Multiscale Systems for Precision Medicine
Adjunct Assistant Research Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of North Carolina
Email: mwitek@ku.edu
Assistant: Melissa Robinso-Winemiller - mrbobinson-winemiller@kumc.edu

NIGMS Pilot I

Mary Markiewicz, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology
mmarkiewicz@kumc.edu

NIGMS Pilot II

Jonathan Soboloff, Ph.D.

Professor, Genetic, Environmental and Inhalational Disease
jsoboloff@kumc.edu

Kansas Board of Regents Sponsored KIPM Pilot

Brian Muchmore, M.D.

Assistant Professor, Precision Prevention
bmuchmore@kumc.edu

Title: Multiomic Subtyping to Identify Oligogenic Architecture in Genome-Negative Nonischemic Cardiomyopathy

KU Cancer Center Pilot

Iram Fatima, Ph.D.

Research Instructor, Surgery

ifatima@kumc.edu

Pathology Pilot

Nikki L. Cheng, Ph.D.
Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Fennik Life Sciences
Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
ncheng@kumc.edu

Previous Recipients:

NIGMS Pilot

Amit Noheria, MBBS, SM, 2024-2025
Pamela V. Tran, Ph.D., 2024-2025
Nausheen Ahmed, M.D., 2023-2024

Pathology Pilots

Linheng Li, Ph.D., 2024-2025
Xinyang Zhao, Ph.D., 2023-2024
Liang Zheng, Ph.D., 2022-2023
Harsh Pathak, Ph.D. 2021-2022
Fariba Behbod, PharmD, Ph.D. 2021-2022
Fariba Behbod, PharmD, Ph.D 2020-2021

KU Cancer Center Pilots

David Akhavan, M.D., 2024-2025
Rebecca Whelan, Ph.D., 2023-2024
Nausheen Ahmed, M.D., 2023-2024
Lane Christenson, M.S., Ph.D., 2022-2023
Dan Dixon, Ph.D., 2022-2023
Gregory Gan, M.D., Ph.D., 2022-2023
Subhrajit Saha, Ph.D., MTech, MSc, 2022-2023
Liang Xu, M.D., Ph.D., 2021-2022
Shane Stecklein, M.D., Ph.D., 2020-2021
Priyanka Sharma, M.D., 2020-2021

No current recipient

Previous Recipients:

Jill Morris, Ph.D.

Marina Walther-Antonio, Ph.D. (Mentor to Dr. Mahoney)
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Mayo Clinic
Email: waltherantonio.marina@mayo.edu

Stefan H. Bossmann, Ph.D. (mentor to Dr. Pyaram)
Department Chair
Email: sbossmann@kumc.edu

Andrea Jewell, M.D., FACOG (Mentor to Dr. Mahoney)
Associate Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Email: ajewell@kumc.edu

Janet Pierce, Ph.D., APRN, CCRN, FAAN (Mentor to Dr. Mahoney)
Professor, Cell Biology and Physiology, Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine
Email: jpierce@kumc.edu

Hubert M. Tse, Ph.D. (mentor to Dr. Pyaram)
Chair, Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology, The University of Kansas, SOM-Kansas City
Email: htse@kumc.edu

Shahid Umar, Ph.D., A.G.A.F. (Mentor to Drs. Mahoney and Pyaram)
Professor, Surgery
Email: sumar@kumc.edu