Pippa Cosper, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of human oncology, was awarded a Research Scholar Grant from the Radiological Society of North American (RSNA) to study Chromosomal Instability as a Biomarker of Radiation Response in HPV+ Head and Neck Cancers.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) now causes over 75% of oropharyngeal cancers and represents a rising epidemic. Because HPV induced cancers have a more favorable prognosis than HPV-, there has been an effort to decrease the radiotherapy dose used to treat these patients to reduce toxicity. Unfortunately, de-escalating therapy based on HPV status alone has not been successful as approximately 20% of patients either do not respond to radiation or eventually recur.
Dr. Cosper’s research is focused on gaining a better understanding of tumor biology to establish further biomarkers that would enable tailoring of radiotherapy dose to improve patient outcomes and minimize toxicity.
This two-year grant of $200,000 funds research time for junior faculty as they transition to independent investigators. Dr. Pippa Cosper will prepare her research for NIH funding by working under the guidance of scientific advisor, Dr. Randy Kimple (Dept. of Human Oncology), and will be collaborating with Dr. Rong Hu (Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine) and Dr. Greg Avey (Dept. of Radiology).