Shane Stecklein

Professional Background

Research Focus: Breast cancer and lymphoma

Assistant Professor and Translational Physician-Scientist, Radiation Oncology, University of Kansas Medical Center June 2019 - Present

Advisor, Healthcare Analytics, McKinsey & Company Dec 2015 - Present

Resident Physician, Radiation Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston Jul 2015 - June 2019

Associate Member Council, American Association for Cancer Research Apr 2015 - Apr 2018

Intern, Designated Internal Medicine/Radioation Oncology Prelimanary Program, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston June 2014 - June 2015

I am originally from Dodge City, Kansas, and completed my B.S. in Cell Biology at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. While an undergraduate, I studied the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) tumor suppressor gene and its role in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer in the laboratory of Kristi Neufeld, Ph.D. in the Department of Molecular Biosciences.

Soon after beginning medical school, I embarked on my doctoral research in the laboratory of Roy Jensen, M.D., director of the University of Kansas Cancer Center.  Roy's laboratory studies the structure, regulation, and function of BRCA1, a multifunctional tumor suppressor gene involved in the pathogenesis of sporadic and hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.  Under his direction, and with formal co-mentorship from Fariba Behbod, Pharm.D., Ph.D., my research focused on exploiting and manipulating BRCA1-dependent DNA double-strand break (DSB) and interstrand crosslink (ICL) repair.  DSBs and ICLs are toxic genetic lesions that are induced by ionizing radiation and certain chemotherapeutic agents. My studies identified a clinically viable mechanism to manipulate homologous recombination and non-homologous end-joining, two major pathways responsible for the repair of DSB and ICL lesions.  In effect, our research revealed a potential strategy to overcome DNA repair-mediated resistance to radiation and chemotherapy in breast and ovarian cancers.  During my doctoral research and continuing into my clinical clerkships I also engaged in several clinical-translational projects with Priyanka Sharma, M.D., a breast medical oncologist at KUMC.  We evaluated BRCA1 promoter methylation and other biomarkers of DNA repair capacity in both a retrospective and prospective cohort of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients and demonstrated that the integrity of the homologous recombination pathway has clinical implications for treating patients with TNBC.

Mentors: Roy Jensen, M.D., and Fariba Behbod, Ph.D.; Anatomy and Cell Biology Department