Meet the Team

I am a surgical oncologist with clinical interests in breast cancer, melanoma and general cancer surgery. My primary research focus is the immunotherapy of tumors, which can be thought of as using drugs and other treatments to boost the human immune system's innate ability to fight tumor cells. I have a number of active cancer research grants that look at novel immunological approaches to the treatment of advanced malignant melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer.

I am a urologic oncologist who provides surgical care to patients with bladder cancer, kidney cancer and prostate cancer. I joined The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center as an assistant professor in the Department of Urology in 2017 after completing urology residency at Johns Hopkins and urologic oncology fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center. My basic science and translational research is focused on improving bladder cancer immunotherapy.

• Undergraduate Institution: New York University
• Veterinary School: Tufts University
• Residency: Anatomic Pathology, The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine

I am originally from Hamden, CT and did my undergraduate work at New York University. I graduated in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry before beginning veterinary school at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. During my veterinary training, I developed interests in pathology, oncology and biomedical research, working as a research assistant in the Department of Comparative Pathology at the New England Primate Research Center at Harvard Medical School. I then spent a summer as a research fellow in the Department of Comparative Medicine at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before graduating with my Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine in May 2016. I am currently a resident in the Combined Anatomic Pathology Residency/PhD program in the Department of Veterinary Biosciences at the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. I joined the Carson Lab as a postdoctoral research fellow under the T32 Oncology Training Program in 2017. My current research focuses on exploring the role of microRNAs as diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets in melanoma, particularly as an adjunct to current and developing immunotherapies.

I am originally from Ann Arbor, MI, and obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis, LA. I then attended medical school at the University of Michigan Medical School, and following graduation, I was matched to a residency in general surgery at The Ohio State University. I have since completed three clinical years of surgery residency before deciding to take dedicated research time. I joined the Carson Lab in 2019 as a postdoctoral research fellow under the T32 ARTIST grant. My current research focuses on targeted inhibition of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase and its effect on myeloid derived suppressor cells.

I grew up in Orrville, a small town in Northeastern Ohio. I attended the University of Mount Union and graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology with minors in Chemistry and Exercise Science. As an undergraduate, I had the opportunity to intern with the Kidney Project, a project dedicated to creating an artificial kidney to treat end stage renal failure, at the University of California San Francisco. The encouragement and support I found from Dr. Shuvo Roy and his lab is ultimately what inspired my decision to pursue a doctoral degree. After graduation, I moved to Columbus and worked as a research assistant for two years under Dr. Jonathan Godbout studying the lifelong issues associated with traumatic brain injury in the context of chronic neuroinflammation and cognitive decline. As a student in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, I chose to complete my doctoral research in the Carson Lab. My current research focuses on inhibition of IL-1B in the tumor microenvironment using tumor associated macrophage depletion strategies such as Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase inhibitors to impair the NLRP3 inflammasome.

• Hometown: Dublin, Ohio
• Undergraduate Institution: The Ohio State University

• Hometown: Worthington, Ohio
• Undergraduate Institution: Miami University

• Hometown: Sylvania, Ohio
• Undergraduate Institution: The Ohio State University

• Hometown: Chillicothe, Ohio
• Undergraduate Institution: The Ohio State University