| Education & Training |
College: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Ill.
(1976-1980)
Medical School: University of Illinois, Chicago, Ill.
(1980-1984)
Internship: Cook County Hospital, Chicago, Ill.
(Surgical, 1985-1985)
Residency: University of Illinois Hospital, Chicago, Ill.
(Internal Medicine, 1989-1992)
Fellowship: University of Illinois Hospital, Chicago, Ill.
(Gastroenterology, 1995-1998) |
| Research Interests |
My major research focus concerns the expression and function of gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) and its receptor. My work shows that these proteins are almost always aberrantly expressed by cancers of the GI tract. When expressed as functional proteins, GRP and its receptor act to a minor extent as mitogens but to a more significant extent as morphogens. This work promises to improve the outcome of patients with GI cancers by showing how GRP and its receptor may act to maintain cancers in a well differentiated state and thereby prevent tumor cell dissemination and metastasis. I hope to extend this work to other neuropeptides in hepatocellular carcinoma.
Clinically my work attempts to utilize magnification and chromendoscopy techniques to identify and assess the earliest premalignant changes in esophageal (Barretts mucosa), gastric (intestinal metaplasia), and colonic epithelium (aberrant crypt foci). In conjunction with these studies I work with animal models of GI cancers to identify dietary-gene interactions which may influence these lesions. |
