Breast SPORE Director Herbert K. Lyerly, M.D.
Clinical Director: P. Kelly Marcom, M.D.
Development Therapeutics Director Kimberly Blackwell, M.D.
Basic Science and Prevention Program Director: Victoria Seewaldt, M.D.
Breast Cancer Genetics Director P. Kelly Marcom, M.D.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine Director Heather Shaw, M.D.
Geriatric Breast Oncology Pearl Seo, M.D.
Breast SPORE Director of Basic Sciences. Jeffery Marks, Ph.D.

 

Summary: The Breast Cancer Program at Duke University focuses the efforts of over fifty basic scientists,
medical oncologists, breast surgeons, radiotherapists, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants and research
nurses on one essential goal – improving outcomes for patients with or at risk from breast cancer. The emphasis
is on two-way translational research. Bench to bedside programs include an immunotherapy program, a breast
tumor microenvironment and hypoxia program, and a chemoprevention program. In addition there are also
“bedside to bench” approaches that place patient outcome data and clinical samples at the center of the research
strategy. Examples of these programs include the application of pharmacogenetics to the treatment of breast
cancer, the study of early molecular changes in breast carcinogenesis, characterization of breast tumor
microenvironment, the identification of genetic modifiers of BRCA1 and BRCA2, the development of new
biomarkers for breast cancer detection, and studies of breast cancer gene expression profiles.