News

Congratulations to doctoral student James Drury on winning the Judges Choice award for CCTS 1-Minute Poster Pitch 14th Annual UK CCTS Spring Conference, April 15, 2019. James Drury with his mentor Dr. Kate Zaytseva

We are pleased to congratulate Marisa Kamelgarn who successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation today. Congratulations Dr. Kamelgarn and congratulations to Dr. Haining Zhu for his excellent mentorship and the committee members: Dr. St Clair, Dr. Kasarskis, Dr. Stamm and Dr. Mellon for their guidance throughout Marisa’s training and Dr. Steven Estus as the outside examiner.

Dear Colleagues, we are pleased to congratulate Marco De Freitas Clementino who successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation today. Congratulations Dr. Freitas Clementino and the committee members: Drs. Izumi, and Fondufe-Mittendorf for their guidance throughout Marco’s training and Dr. Shuxia Wang as the outside examiner.

We are pleased to congratulate Anye Wamucho, who successfully defended his PhD dissertation on February 21, 2019. We would also like to congratulate and acknowledge Dr. Olga Tysusko for her excellent mentorship; the committee members: Drs. Unrine, Palli, Farman, and Mellon, for their guidance throughout Anye's training; and Dr. Chunming Liu as the outside examiner.

We are pleased to introduce our new Administrative Support Associate, Ms. Catherine Park. Hailing from New Jersey, she attended Rutgers University and earned a bachelor's degree in history. She is relatively new to the area so please stop by to welcome her to the department.

Dr. Mary Vore from the University of Kentucky to present the 2019 Norman Weiner Lecture. This lecture was established in memory of Dr. Norman Weiner, past ASPET President and chair of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Colorado. It is in honor of his many contributions to both ASPET and to pharmacology research and education. Dr. Vore completed her PhD in pharmacology at Vanderbilt School of Medicine and a postdoctoral fellowship at Hoffmann-La Roche.

University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center researcher Daret St. Clair, Ph.D., has been named the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient from the Society for Redox Biology and Medicine (SfRBM). St. Clair received the award and gave a feature lecture at the SfRBM’s 25th Annual Conference in Chicago earlier this month.

Renowned biochemist Xiaoqi Liu, Ph.D., has been named chair of the University of Kentucky Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology.

Liu’s research involves the molecular mechanisms that cause cancer with the goal of using this information to create new avenues for cancer therapy. His work specifically focuses on an enzyme known as Polo-like kinase 1, which plays a central role in controlling cell division and exists at abnormally high levels in many types of cancers, including prostate, pancreatic, melanoma and lung cancers.

A former professor of biochemistry at Purdue University, Dr. Liu is a graduate of Peking University in Beijing and received his doctorate from Washington State University.

Congratulations, Andrew Hitron, who successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation this afternoon. Congratulations to the committee members Drs. St Clair, HS Yang, and Luo for their guidance throughout Andrew’s training.

We are pleased to congratulate Chontida Yarana who successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation. Congratulations Dr. Yarana and congratulations to Dr. Daret St Clair for her excellent mentorship and the committee members for their guidance throughout Chontida’s training.

Congratulations to Stephanie Bryant on being awarded the new College of Medicine Fellowship for Excellence in Graduate Research! Stephanie was one of six awardees for the upcoming academic year.

We are pleased to congratulate Dustin Carroll who successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation. Congratulations to Dr. Carroll and Dr. Daret St Clair for her excellent mentorship and the committee members for their guidance throughout Dustin’s training.

Congratulations to James Sledziona who successfully defended his Ph.D. Congratulations, Dr. Vivek Rangnekar for his excellent mentorship and guidance throughout his training.

For Carrigan Wasilchenko – and so many others hailing from Eastern Kentucky – cancer is not just a public health issue. It's also a problem that hits far too close to home. 

"I don't think I know one person who doesn't know someone who's been affected by cancer in some way," said Wasilchenko, whose mother and grandmother both had cancer. "It's very personal."

We welcome David Kirk to the department as an Administrative Staff Officer. He received a Master of Public Health from The University of Tennessee and a Master of Business Administration from Wright State University. Prior to joining us, he worked as a Research Administrator in the Office of Sponsored Projects Administration at the University of Kentucky. He also has prior research administration experience at Michigan State University in the Department of Agricultural, Food, & Resource Economics and the College of Nursing. Please stop by Room 306 to welcome David to our team!

The 2017 departmental holiday party was held on Monday, December 11th.  Photos from this event can be viewed here.

Congratulations to Lu Dai and Christina Wicker who successfully defended their Ph.D. Congratulations to both! A Graduation Reception was held on Friday, December 15th in their honor!