UTHealth-CPRIT Innovation in Cancer Prevention Research Training Program
Our program recruits scholars from diverse disciplines to ask the important research questions, apply the tools of innovative thinking and cutting edge methods, engage in trans-disciplinary teams and move the field of cancer forward in big, not baby, steps.
We offer both full-time training support via pre-and post-doctoral fellowships and affiliate fellowships for those who are interested in our training but who already have employment or training support. All fellows have access to an integrative seminar in summer, fall, and spring 2020 with faculty and other trainees from diverse disciplines and perspectives on cancer prevention.
To learn more about our grant, view the abstract and significance statement for our current cycle.
Contact cpritfellowships@uth.tmc.edu or 713-500-9476 for further information.
About CPRIT
The program is generously funded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas grant (RP#160015). The CPRIT program was created in 2007 as part of a voter-approved constitutional amendment authorizing the state to issue $3 billion in bonds to fund groundbreaking cancer research and prevention programs and services in Texas, and it was renewed in 2019.
You can find out more about CPRIT on their website: http://www.cprit.state.tx.us/
Predoctoral Innovation in Cancer Prevention Research Training Program
Continued support depends on availability of funding.
Seeking applicants committed to a career in cancer prevention research!
Eligibility
- U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and international visa holders
- Enrolled in the UTHealth School Public Health (all campuses), School of Biomedical Informatics, or Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
- Available for the summer session: May 18-Aug 10
- Residence in Texas during the fellowship
Note: Members of underrepresented minority groups are encouraged to apply
Program Benefits
- $28,000 stipend and student health insurance
- $1,000 travel expenses for presentations at national meetings
- Tuition and fees, books, software, and laptop/tablet
- Training and coaching in innovative thinking
- Writing consultations, training in compelling oral presentations and research proposals
- Interdisciplinary research seminars with sessions on application of innovative thinking tools, team science, and career development skills
Note: Research expenses must be paid by the mentor
Doctoral affiliate fellows (with salary support from employment or other cancer research fellowships) receive the benefits listed above EXCEPT stipend support and student health insurance.
How to apply
- Complete the predoctoral application and submit all materials to cpritfellowships@uth.tmc.edu
- Please label the emails as: Last_First_App Materials
- Review the predoctoral application checklist on the application
We've complied a list of frequently asked questions, you can review them in our Applicant FAQ.
Applications for the 2020 cycle are now closed.
Current fellows
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Xiao DongUTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics CPRIT Project Title: Discovering new anti-neoplastic uses for existing non-cancer drugs by processing and analyzing EHRs through NLP Select Publications:
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Brittany JewellUTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences – Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Houston, TX CPRIT Project Title: Cellular mechanisms associated with osteosarcomagenesis in Rothmund-Thomson Syndrome Select Publications:
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Vinay NairUTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences – Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Houston, TX CPRIT Project Title: Investigating the effects of transmembrane potential on cell proliferation Select Publications:
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Saleh RamenzaniUTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences – Diagnostic & Biomedical Sciences CPRIT Project Title: Building a biomimetic colon surface for targeting tumor heterogeneity for MRI applications Select publications:
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Postdoctoral Innovation in Cancer Prevention Research Training Program
Continued support depends on availability of funding.
Seeking applicants committed to a career in cancer prevention research!
Eligibility
- U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and international visa holders
- PhD, DrPH, MD, or other doctoral degree
- Work in a UTHealth lab/research project currently or have one in mind
- Available for the summer session: May 18-Aug 10
- Residence in Texas during the fellowship
Note: Members of underrepresented minority groups are encouraged to apply
Program Benefits
- $51,000 salary, full benefits, books, and software/tablet
- $2,000 in travel expenses to present at national conferences
- Training and coaching in innovative thinking
- Writing consultations, training in compelling oral presentations and research proposals
- Trans-disciplinary research seminars with sessions on application of innovative thinking, team science, and other career development skills
Note: Research expenses must be paid by the mentor
Postdoctoral affiliate fellows (with salary support from employment or other cancer research fellowships) receive all benefits listed above except salary support and health insurance.
How to apply
- Complete the postdoctoral application and submit all materials to cpritfellowships@uth.tmc.edu
- Please label the emails as: Last_First_App Materials
- Review the postdoctoral application checklist on the application
We've complied a list of frequently asked questions, you can review them in our Applicant FAQ.
Applications for the 2020 cycle are now closed.
Current fellows
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Natalie SirisaengtaksinUTHealth McGovern Medical School – Microbiology and Molecular Genetics CPRIT Project Title: Engineering bacterial outer membrane vesicles for personalized cancer therapy |
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Hidetaka TannoThe University of Texas at Austin, The McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering CPRIT Project Title: High-throughput analysis of immune receptor repertoire in cancer patients |
Executive committee
PI and Chair
Roberta B. Ness, MD, MPH
Program Director
Patricia Dolan Mullen, DrPH
Curriculum Coordinators
Sahiti Myeni, PhD, MSE
Executive Committee
Zhiqiang An, PhD
Elmer V. Bernstam, MD, MSE
Shine Chang, PhD
George Delclos, MD, PhD, MPH
Myriam Fornage, PhD
Alanna C. Morrison, PhD
Sally W. Vernon, PhD
Hua Xu, PhD
CPRIT fellowship alumni
Completed predoctoral projects
Name + Project Title |
Position + Institution |
| Sharangdhar Phatak, PhD (Computational models to design safer anti-cancer therapeutics) | Head of Platforms, Life Biosciences, Cambridge, MA |
| Sahiti Myneni, PhD, MSE (Attributing meaning to online social network analysis for tailored socio-behavioral support systems) | Assistant Professor (ten track) - UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics |
| Jessica Hernandez Chacon, PhD (Activating the 4-1BB pathway for the expansion of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes for adoptive T-cell therapy for metastatic melanoma patients) | Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Education, Texas Tech University Health Science Center, Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, El Paso, TX |
| *Ebun Odeneye Ebunlomo, PhD, MCHES, MPH (Health promotion, not cancer prevention: Nigerian women and breast health) | Evaluation Fellow - Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, National Center for Chronic Dis-ease Prevention & Health Promotion, Atlanta |
| Silvia Ferrati, PhD (Nanochannel implant for constant and sustained delivery of therapeutics for pancreatic cancer) | Research Scientist Translational, Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Austin, TX |
| Sanchaika Gaur, PhD (The role of MIR-34a in inhibiting prostate tumor growth in the bone and the induction of apoptosis and a novel form autophagy) | Postdoctoral Scientist - Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles |
| *Renke Zhou, PhD (A flexible semiparametric joint model for semi-competing risks data with missing cause of informative terminal event) | Senior Biostatistician (appt in process to Assistant Professor) - Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston |
| Andrew Aschenbrenner (Multivariate analysis in RNA-Seq expression data) | Instructor, Washington University at St. Louis, Department of Neurology, St. Louis, MO |
| Jose (Franck) Diaz Vasquez, PhD (Systematic data quality assessment for the reliable reuse of clinical data in research) | Research Associate, Health Informatics - WakeHealth |
| Krit Ritthipichai, PhD, MS, DVM (Uncovering the role of RNA-binding protein with multiple slicing in tumor infiltrating lymphocytes) | Senior Scientist, Iovance Biotherapeutics, Tampa, FL |
| Zhiguo “Stanley” Yu, MS, PhD (A new and improved way to explore and understand PubMed citations) | Data Scientist, Microsoft Research, Assistant and Intelligence Team, Microsoft, Bellevue, WA |
| Ming Cao, PhD (Improved statistical inference for social networks by combining exponential random graph models and latent space models) | Senior Data Scientist, Prognos AI, New York, NY |
| David Savage, MD, PhD (Role of UBE4B in neuroblastoma chemotherapy sensitivity) | Resident Physician - Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Internal Medicine, Cleveland Ohio |
| Muhammad “Tuan” Amith (Design and architecture of an ontology-driven dialogue system of HPV vaccine counseling) | Assistant Professor (Research), School of Biomedical Informatics, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX |
*predoctoral affiliate
Completed postdoctoral projects
Name + Project Title |
Position + Institution |
| Marcia C. de Oliveira Otto, PhD (Identifying novel approaches to dietary assessment methods) | Assistant Professor (ten track) - Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, & Environmental Sciences, UTHealth School of Public Health |
| Meng Chen, PhD (Pathway analysis of bladder cancer genome-wide association study identifies novel pathways involved in bladder cancer development) | Duncan Family Institute Mentored Junior Faculty Fellow, Department of Epidemiology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston |
| Heidi Russell, MD, PhD (Dose reduction strategies for low-risk rhabdomyosarcoma: using cost comparisons to help decide between two chemotherapy regimens with similar outcomes) | Associate Professor (currently on leave) - Department of Pediatrics, Section of Hematology-Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital |
| Katherine Hutcheson, PhD (High burden of late effects upon entry into head & neck survivorship care) | Associate Professor, Department of Head & Neck Surgery Section of Speech Pathology & Audiology, Division of Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
| Mary McGuire, PhD (Cancer and embryogenesis share common pathways at the molecular level) | Assistant Professor (ten track) & Director, Advanced Medical Consulting Group - Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, UTHealth Med School |
| Jane Richards Montealegre, PhD, MSPH (Ethnographic mapping identifies a productive and feasible venue for a community evaluation of self-sample HPV testing with cytology triage among Latina immigrant screening non-attendees in Harris County, Texas) | Assistant Director, Community Outreach & Engagement, Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX |
| Hung Luu, MD, PhD, MPH (The role of toll-like receptors in cervical dysplasia) | Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh & Member, Cancer Epidemiology & Prevention Program, Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburg, PA |
| Janet Macheledt, MD, MPH (Cancer screening recommendations: A re-evaluation of the data) | Physician - Methodist Oncology Partners, Hematology-Oncology, Houston Methodist West Hospital |
| Thanh Cong Bui, MD, DrPH, MPH (Oral hygiene, oral health, and oral HPV infection) | Assistant Professor of Research, University of Oklahoma Health Science Center, Department of Family & Preventive Medicine, Oklahoma City, OK |
| Zhenlong Li, PhD (A multiscale computational platform for the rational design of folate-receptor -specific drug nanocarriers) | Research Associate - Department of Physiology & Biostatistics, Weil Cornell Medical College, NYC |
| Azam Mandana Yazdani, PhD (Identification of causal structures in multi-omic data: Using data from different granularities) | Postdoctoral Fellow - CPRIT Fellowship in Computational Biology, UTHealth School of Public Health |
| Jingjing Jiao, MD, PhD (Molecular characteristics of high prevalence of Hepatocellular carcinoma and underlying liver disease in Hispanics) | Instructor, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology |
| Sara Prijic, PhD, DVM (Breast cancer metastasis: What does cholesterol have to do with it?) | Senior Scientist, Alkermes Inc., Waltham, MA |
| Arzu Ulu, PhD, MSc (A novel target in breast cancer metastasis: Role of Net1A in breast cancer cell motility) | Assistant Project Scientist, University of California, Riverside, Division of Biomedical Sciences, Riverside, CA |
| Jing Gong, PhD (Integrative analysis of complex diseases; high-throughput data mining; non-coding RNA analysis) | Department of Bioinformatics faculty position in China |
Contact us
For more information regarding the fellowship, please email CPRITFellowships@uth.tmc.edu, or call 713.500.9476.
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SEE OUR IMPACT
Understanding how one dose of the HPV vaccine may prevent infection
A new study revealed that one dose of the HPV vaccine may prevent infection from the potential cancer-causing virus, according to research published in JAMA Network Open by UTHealth School of Public Health researchers.
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2020 PREDOCTORAL FELLOWS
Meet Shwetha V. Kumar and Cong Zhu
Two School of Public Health doctoral students have been appointed to the UTHealth – CPRIT (Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas) Innovation in Cancer Prevention Research Training Program.
