Andrew Godwin, Professor and Division Director, Deputy Director, KU Cancer Center, University of Kansas Medical Center

Andrew Godwin Biographical Sketch

Andrew K. Godwin, PhD is the Chancellors Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Sciences endowed Professor and the Director of Molecular Oncology in the Department of Pathology at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC). He is a leader in the field of translational research and precision medicine. A native of Lawrence, Kansas, Dr. Godwin graduated with highest distinction from the University of Kansas (KU) with a bachelor’s degree in Cellular Biology. He obtained his PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Pennsylvania while carrying out his thesis research at Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC) in Philadelphia. While at FCCC he had the pleasure of learning from “giants” in their respective fields of cancer-focused science. He was appointed leader of the FCCC’s Cancer Center Support Grant Ovarian Cancer Program in 2008 and served as co-leader of the Women's Cancer Program from 2009 to 2010. He was the founding director of both the Clinical Molecular Genetics/Pathology Laboratory and the Biosample Repository at FCCC since their inception in 1995 and 1999 respectively, and until leaving FCCC.

Dr. Godwin was recruited to KUMC as the director of Molecular Oncology and as the Associate Director for Translational Research within the KU Cancer Center in October 2010 after 26 productive years at FCCC. His engaged participation in the cancer center led to being appointed the Deputy Director in 2013 and his unwavering efforts helped to gain NCI designation in 2012/2017 and comprehensive designation in 2022. He founded the Clinical Molecular Oncology Laboratory, a CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited molecular diagnostics laboratory in 2012. He was appointed the Division Director for Genomic Diagnostic for the KU Health System in 2020. He also founded the Center for Genetics Services and Health Equity, to address health disparities in medical underserved populations regionally and nationally.

Dr. Godwin holds secondary appointments as a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, and the Department of Microbiology, Molecular Genetics, and Immunology. He also leads the ovarian cancer research-working group, is a member of the Investigator Initiated Trial Steering Committee, serves as the founding Scientific Director for the Biomarker Discovery Laboratory, the Director of the KU Cancer Center’s Biospecimen Shared Resource, and the KU Medical Center’s Biospecimen Repository Core Facility. He was named the Vice Chair for the Breast Translational Medicine subcommittee of the Southwest Oncology Group in 2018 and was appointed to the National Cancer Institute’s NCTN Core Correlative Sciences Committee in 2021.

Dr. Godwin heads KU’s institutional efforts in precision medicine. In 2016 he founded the Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine which is currently supported by a Phase 2 Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (P20 GM130423) grant from the NIGMS. He is also a co-founder of a startup company, Sinochips Diagnostics, a private reference laboratory that provides pharmacogenomic testing to provide a road map for which drugs will be most effective for each individual patient.

He was named a Kansas Bioscience Authority Eminent Scholar in 2010 and the University of Kansas School of Medicine Chancellor’s Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Sciences Endowed Professor in 2012. In 2014, Dr. Godwin received the KUMC School of Medicine’s Achievement Award for the mentoring of post-doctorate students. Of his awards, he is most proud of being acknowledged for his years of mentoring. He has mentored over 150 trainees, including high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral associates/fellows, medical students/fellows, visiting scientists, and junior faculty during his academic career. He was awarded the KU Medical Center’s Faculty Investigator Research Award in 2015, the University of Kansas Cancer Center Director’s William Jewell Team Science Award in 2017, the KUCC Director’s Basic Science Award and the Chancellor’s Club Award for Research in 2018, and the Dolph C. Simons, Sr. Higuchi Award in the Biomedical Sciences in 2020 – the state higher education system’s most prestigious recognition for scholarly excellence. Most recently, Godwin was presented with the 2021 KU School of Medicine Excellences in Mentoring (Faculty) award and the 2021 Cancer Center Director’s Award in Mentoring and was named the 2022 Lead Scholar in Biomedical Sciences by the Ewha Womans University in South Korea. Most recently he presented the 2024 Outstanding Mentorship in Pathology Award by the University School of Medicine and Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in recognition of dedication to the mentorship and education of future pathologists.

Dr. Godwin is internationally recognized for his molecular biology/genetic studies of sarcoma (gastrointestinal stromal tumors and Ewing sarcoma), breast and ovarian cancer, and his efforts to help bridge the gap between basic and clinical science to improve patient care. As a result of his efforts, Dr. Godwin has been continuously since his first faculty appointment at the Fox Chase (in 1993) and has secured extramural funding totaling >$250M. He has published over 550 peer-reviewed manuscripts and scholarly review articles (h index = 143; >95,000 citations) and is the author of 4 patent applications.

Bowen Li, Assistant Professor, Canada Research Chair in RNA Vaccines and Therapeutics, University of Toronto

owen Li Biographical Sketch

Dr. Bowen Li is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto. He is also an Affiliate Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Dr. Li holds the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in RNA Vaccines and Therapeutics and the GSK Chair in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery. He earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship under Profs. Robert Langer and Daniel Anderson at MIT. Dr. Li’s lab employs interdisciplinary strategies, including combinatorial chemistry, high throughput platforms, and AI-driven design of experiments, to develop advanced delivery systems for RNA medicines. Dr. Li has authored over fifty publications in top-tier journals, such as Nature Biotechnology, Nature Materials, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Medicine, PNAS, and Science Advances, and holds eight patents. His research has been recognized with awards including the Moderna Fellowship, AAPS Emerging Investigator Award, CSPS Early Career Award, Marsha Morton Early Career Investigator Award, ACS Rising Star in Biological, Medicinal, and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Gairdner Early Career Investigator Award, J.P. Bickell Medical Research Award, and Connaught New Researcher Award.

Briana L. Simms, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati

Briana Simms Biographical Sketch

Dr. Simms, an HBCU alumna, synthetic polymer chemist, and entrepreneur is currently an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati. Her research focuses on the design and development of functional biomaterials that address public health challenges. Her ultimate goal is to move biomaterials from the benchtop and into the communities that need them most, all while empowering the next generation of STEM scholars.

Damien Pearse, Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery; The John M. and Jocelyn H.K. Watkins Distinguished Chair in Cell Therapies

Damien Pearse Biographical Sketch

Dr. Pearse is a Professor at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Pearse is also a Research Health Scientist at the Bruce Carter Miami VA Healthcare System. Dr. Pearse received his undergraduate degree in Biotechnology and doctorate in Neuroscience from Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at The University of Miami, Dr. Pearse joined the faculty. Dr. Pearse was an associate in the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Consortium from 2000 to 2006 and in 2005 received the Erica Nader Award for being the Outstanding Investigator in SCI Research from the American Spinal Injury Association. Dr. Pearse is currently The John M. and Jocelyn H.K. Watkins Distinguished Chair in Cell Therapies where his work is focused on the translation of autologous cell therapies for neural repair following spinal cord injury and other neurological disorders.

Michael Graner, Professor, Dept of Neurosurgery, University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine

Michael Graner Biographical Sketch

Michael Graner received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois followed by post-doctoral and research faculty work at the University of Arizona, shifting gears from the Drosophila extracellular matrix to cancer immunotherapy. He then took at faculty position at Duke University’s Tisch Brain Tumor Center, followed by his current position as Professor in Neurosurgery at the University of Colorado Denver (Anschutz Medical Campus). He is also a member of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, the MAVRC Program, and holds a Visiting Professorship Appointment at the Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital (China) and an adjunct faculty appointment at Colorado State University. Graner has a long-standing interest in cell stress responses, which led to cancer vaccine development (including one in clinical trials), which somehow led to the world of extracellular vesicles (EVs). His lab currently concentrates on signaling mechanisms involving EVs, in particular the transfer of stressed phenotypes from stressed tumor cells to unstressed ones via EVs.

Mousumi Ghosh, Research Associate Professor, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Mousumi Ghosh Biographical Sketch

Dr. Ghosh, a Research Associate Professor at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is at the forefront of developing innovative therapies for spinal cord injury. Her research focuses on reprogramming microglia and macrophages into neuroprotective and pro-regenerative phenotypes to overcome neurological dysfunction and promote recovery, using clinically relevant rodent models.

Dr. Ghosh earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Calcutta, India, and joined the faculty at the Miami Project after completing her postdoctoral training at the University of Miami. Her work has earned prestigious accolades, including the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation Award and the American Spinal Injury Association’s Spinal Cord Injury Research Award, for groundbreaking contributions to 3D modeling of glial interactions in the injured CNS. Currently, her research delves into modulating microglial exosomal cargo to enhance their anti-inflammatory and pro-regenerative potential, paving the way for novel therapeutic strategies in CNS repair.

Natasha Sosanya, Research Scientist, US Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR)

Natasha Sosanya Biographical Sketch

Currently, I am a Principal Investigator at the US Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR) where I utilize several animal models of injury to (1) study the relationship between stress and pain, (2) elucidate potential pain biomarkers, (3) explore potential drug targets that function to reduce injury-induced pain and (4) test the efficacy and safety of potential pain therapeutics. Previously, I obtained my PhD in Molecular Neuroscience at the University of Texas at Austin where I determined how specific RNA Binding Factors (such as microRNAs) regulate ion channel expression in normal and disease states. I am currently applying my eleven years of graduate and post-doctoral training in neuroscience, pain, and molecular techniques to elucidate and study the underlying causes of pain and the best potential treatment options.

Noah Malmstadt, Professor, Mork Family Dept. of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, University of Southern California

Noah Malmstadt Biographical Sketch

Noah Malmstadt is Professor at the University of Southern California. He received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Caltech and a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Washington. Following postdoctoral work at UCLA, he joined the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at USC in 2007. Malmstadt is the recipient of a 2012 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator award. His research focuses on microfluidic strategies to facilitate material fabrication and biophysical analysis. He has pioneered the integration of ionic liquids as solvents in droplet microreactors and the application of microfluidic systems to synthesizing biomimetic cell membranes. Microfluidic analytical techniques he has developed include methods for measuring the permeability of cell membranes to druglike molecules and techniques for measuring ionic currents through membrane proteins.

Owen Fenton, Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Owen Fenton Biographical Sketch

Owen S. Fenton, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Fenton laboratory is located in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics within the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Research in the Fenton laboratory focuses on the development of mRNA-based nanomedicines for the study, prevention, and treatment of disease.

Steve Soper, Foundation Distinguished Professor, Director, Center of BioModular Multi-scale System for Precision Medicine, The University of Kansas

Steve Soper Biographical Sketch

Professor Soper (since 2016) is a Foundation Distinguished Professor in Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kansas. At KUMC, Prof. Soper holds an adjunct appointment in the Cancer Biology Department and is a member of the KU Cancer Center. He also holds an appointment at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Ulsan, South Korea, where he is a World Class University Professor.

As a result of his efforts, Prof. Soper has secured extramural funding totaling >$125M, has published over 245 peer-reviewed manuscripts (h index = 70; >17,000 citations); 31 book chapters and 71 peer-reviewed conference proceeding papers, and is the author of 12 patents. He is also the founder of a startup company, BioFluidica, which is marketing devices for the isolation and enumeration of liquid biopsy markers. Soper recently founded a second company, Sunflower Genomics, which is seeking to market a new DNA/RNA single-molecule sequencing platform. His list of awards includes Ralph Adams Award in Bioanalytical Chemistry, Chemical Instrumentation by the American Chemical Society, the Benedetti-Pichler Award for Microchemistry, Fellow of the AAAS, Fellow of Applied Spectroscopy, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, R&D 100 Award, Distinguished Masters Award at LSU and Outstanding Scientist/Engineer in the state of Louisiana in 2001. Finally, Prof. Soper has granted 50 PhDs and 7 MS degrees to students under his mentorship. He currently heads a group of 15 researchers.

His major discoveries include: (1) Technology for the detection of liquid biopsy markers that can manage a variety of diseases using a simple blood test (test has been demonstrated in multiple myeloma, pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, pancreatic, breast, colorectal, prostate, and ovarian cancers); (2) new hardware and assay for the point-of-care diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke; (3) single-molecule DNA and RNA sequencing nanotechnology; and (4) currently working on a home-test for COVID-19 infections (handheld instrument and the associated assay.