First Wright Center faculty scholar in health disparities targets inequities in cancer screenings
Growing up in rural southeast Arkansas, Michael Preston, Ph.D., M.P.H., saw the value of early screening for colorectal cancer firsthand. His grandfather was screened early, and doctors were able to stop the cancer before it progressed. Preston credits the screening for getting to enjoy many more years with his grandfather than he would have otherwise. […]
Studies supported by the Wright Center connect mammary hormone to breast cancer progression
The hormone prolactin has long been understood to play a vital role in breast growth and development and the production of milk during pregnancy. But a pair of recent studies conducted at VCU Massey Cancer Center finds strong evidence that prolactin also acts as a major contributor to breast cancer development and that the hormone […]
Closing the gap in prostate and colorectal cancer disparities: a community conversation
Terrance Afer-Anderson wants to create an army of ambassadors. The Norfolk native and prostate cancer survivor wrote, produced and directed a movie, “The Black Walnut,” to bring attention to inequities in screening and mortality rates for prostate cancer in the Black community. “I tell men scared of the invasiveness of a prostate cancer screening, ‘You […]
There are no targeted drugs to treat triple-negative breast cancer. A VCU student aims to fix that.
By Anne Dreyfuss VCU C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research More than 268,000 people will receive a breast cancer diagnosis in 2019. Of them, 20 percent will learn they have triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease that tests negative for the three most common receptors known to […]
Wright Center translational science classes inspire VCU cancer researcher
By Blake Belden VCU Massey Cancer Center Lathika Mohanraj, Ph.D., identifies genetic biomarkers that could aid in the early detection of patients at risk for complications from bone marrow transplantation, hematologic cancers and other malignancies. Her mother, a breast cancer survivor, was diagnosed with the disease while Mohanraj was an undergrad student in India. Living through […]
Ayesha Chawla, Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research, Ph.D. candidate in the Cancer and Molecular Medicine concentration (CaMM), is featured in VCU News
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy in Mumbai, India, in 2011, Chawla came to the United States to pursue a graduate degree in biomedical sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The Mumbai native’s interest in cancer research eventually led her to VCU’s Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research, where she has been performing […]