Appointments:
Assistant Professor and Director, School of Dental Hygiene, Faculty of Dentistry, Dalhousie University
Affiliations:
Adjunct Professor, Department of Oral Biological and Medical Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, University of British Columbia; Clinical Research Coordinator, Cancer Control Research, BC Cancer; Associate Director, British Columbia Oral Cancer Prevention Program.
Research Interests:
oral epithelial dysplasia, oral cancer, biomarkers, risk prediction, molecular epidemiology.
The overall goal of my research is to facilitate discoveries that will advance early oral cancer detection biomarkers and identify effective intervention strategies to reduce the number of individuals with aggressive advanced stage disease. My research focuses on emerging biomarkers and translational precision health approaches to the interception of the malignant transformation of oral premalignant lesions. Additionally, my research aims to elucidate the natural history of the disease by examining multiple markers within longitudinal big data modeling framework that has required integrating demographic, risk habits, histological, clinicopathological, and molecular data. My current research is centered on gene expression profiling and the tissue microenvironment as risk predictors of these lesions.
Hometown: Vancouver, BC
What brought you to your current institution? I moved from Vancouver, BC to accept the positon of Director of the School of Dental Hygiene in the Faculty of Dentistry
Learn more about my research: https://registration.dentistry.dal.ca/faculty/Faculty_Staff_profile3.php?id=2127
Involvement with BHCRI to date:
I am a Scientist Member