I am a Research Investigator in the Tuveson laboratory at CSHL with expertise and interests in basic and preclinical cancer research which includes signaling pathways, molecular biology, animal modeling technologies, and therapy.  My research focuses on discovering new therapeutic options for pancreatic cancer as well as other aggressive types of cancer.  I have been involved in the development of an accelerated pipeline to interrogate the important biological pathways in tumor development and metastases using an organoid culture system and to funnel these findings into animal models to assess the efficacy of targeting these pathways.  Additionally, I develop in vivo preclinical models of human cancer that are more predictive of drug efficacy, with the goal of testing new therapeutic strategies in the recently opened Preclinical Experimental Therapeutic Initiative (PETx) as the Deputy Director of this facility. PETx works in collaboration with the imaging core to image tumor growth and response. The current preclinical pipeline includes genetically engineered mouse models, rapid mouse allograft models, and human organoid xenograft models. A large number of preclinical trials are on-going and the preclinical outcomes will help prioritize translation of these approaches into clinical trials.