Novel Therapies in Head and Neck Cancer: Beyond the Horizon

A highly renowned surgeon, scientist and educator, Dr. St. John is Professor and Chair of Department of Head and Neck Surgery and Professor of Bioengineering at UCLA. She also holds the Thomas C. Calcaterra, M.D., Chair in Head and Neck Surgery and is Co-Director of the UCLA Head and Neck Cancer Program. Dr. St. John’s laboratory studies the mechanisms of tumor progression and metastasis in head and neck cancer and seeks to identify and study novel genes and pathways for future targeted therapies, while actively incorporating the results of their laboratory-based research into the development of novel therapeutics. Her extramurally-funded research portfolio includes multiple NIH grants bridging basic science with clinical research and service. Dr. St. John is an outstanding educator who has provided mentorship to numerous trainees, and serves as a member of several prestigious organizations including the Executive Council of the American Head and Neck Society, Nominating Committee of the Triological Society, American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, American College of Surgeons Board of Governors Advisory Council, and American Laryngological Association. She also is a senior examiner for the American Board of Otolaryngology and a reviewer for the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery CORE grants, and NIH/NIDCR, NCI and NIBIB study sections. She has been the recipient of multiple awards for teaching and research. Dr. St. John received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University. She completed residency and postdoctoral training at UCLA. In addition to maintaining a busy surgical practice, Dr. St. John is active in clinical research and is closely involved in training young physician-scientists. Dr. St. John’s clinical expertise is in intraoperative tumor margin delineation in the resection and treatment of head and neck cancers to allow for precision surgery. Her laboratory research is translational with a focus on improving therapies and outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer. Her efforts have helped in the development of strong interdepartmental research program in Head & Neck Surgery and Bioengineering. This work has led to clinical trials and patent applications, and has been consistently funded by the NIH, charitable foundations, and industry. Dr. Park is a prominent scientist in oral and craniofacial research, with more than 180 scientific publications in distinguished research journals. His major research activities have been in oral (head &neck) cancer and aging research. Dr. Park's contribution to the understanding of the mechanisms of oral cancer development is enormous and resulted in new mode of therapy. In the early stage of his career (1975-1983), Dr. Park developed animal models to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of antiviral agents and to study the molecular mechanisms of numerous antiviral agents against herpes simplex virus. In later stages of his research career (since 1983), Dr. Park began to investigate the mechanisms of human oral cancer development.

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