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: Cassaundra Shipman, cshipman2@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: Emma Goodrich, emmagoodrich17@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

Andrés M. Bur, M.D., FACS
Director, Robotics and Minimally Invasive Head and Neck Surgery
Co-director, Head and Neck Oncology Fellowship
Associate Professor, Division of Head and Neck Surgery
Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
Junior Faculty, Kansas Institute of Precision Medicine COBRE
University of Kansas School of Medicine
Email: smatson@kumc.edu

Scott Matson, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
Junior Faculty, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE
Email: smatson@kumc.edu

Project: Role of Chronic Lung Disease in Autoantibody Generation

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

Olivia Veatch, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Kansas School of Medicine
Junior Faculty, Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine COBRE
Email: oveatch@kumc.edu

Project: Deciphering genetic pleitropy to inform precision psychiatry

Previous Junior Faculty, 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 Junior Faculty, 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 Junior Faculty, 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

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: Cassaundra Shipman, cshipman2@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: skoestler@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: Emma Goodrich, emmagoodrich17@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

Kalyani Pyaram, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Cancer Biology
kpyaram@kumc.edu

Pathology Pilot

Xinyang Zhao, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
xzhao3@kumc.edu

KU Cancer Center Pilots

Pilot 1

Nausheen Ahmed, M.D.,
Assistant Professor, Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapeutics
nahmed5@kumc.edu

Pilot II

Rebecca Whelan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Chemistry
rwhelan1@ku.edu

Previous Recipients:

Pathology Pilots

• 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

• 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

Mario Castro, M.D., MPH (mentor to Dr. Matson)
L.E. Phillips and Lenora Carr Phillips Professor, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Adjunct Research Professor, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. Chief, Division Chief, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
Email: mcastro2@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

Devin Koestler, Ph.D. (mentor to Dr. Bur)
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: skoestler@kumc.edu

Mihaela Sardiu, PhD (mentor to Dr. Veatch)
Associate Professor, Biostatistics & Data Science
Email: msardiu@kumc.edu

Sufi Thomas, Ph.D. (mentor to Dr. Bur)
Associate Professor, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck SurgeryCo-Leader, Cancer Center, Co-Leader, Cancer Center, The University of Kansas, SOM-Kansas City
Email: sthomas7@kumc.edu

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

Michael Washburn, Ph.D. (mentor to Drs. Matson and Veatch)
Professor, Cancer Biology
Email: mwashburn4@kumc.edu