Tammara Watts
Duke University, NC·Medicine & Clinical Research
Black patients with oropharyngeal cancer, a throat cancer, die at higher rates than White, Hispanic and Asian patients. The gap persists even after accounting for income, insurance, tobacco use and other social factors.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Genetics
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
head and neck cancer
oropharyngeal cancer
throat cancer
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jan 2029
What they work on
- Identify ancestry-associated driver genes in HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancers from Black and White patients and relate them to treatment response, recurrence and overall survival.
- Combine spatial genomics with AI-guided pathomics, computer analysis of tumor tissue images, to compare gene expression and the arrangement of stromal and immune cells while controlling for self-reported race.
- Launch pilot research funding with the Duke Cancer Institute to support trainees, postdocs and early-career faculty in head and neck cancer research.
More about the research
This suggests that biology and genetics also play a part. Doctors also cannot yet tell which throat cancer patients, of any race, will respond poorly to treatment. This project looks for biological causes of the gap and for markers that flag poor responders.
Why it matters
Throat cancer survival is worse for Black patients, and doctors cannot yet predict who will respond poorly to treatment. Finding ancestry-linked driver genes and tissue-based biomarkers could explain part of this disparity. It could also help identify high-risk patients of any race so their care can be tailored.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Pippa Cosper
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Define the types and extent of chromosomal instability, ongoing errors in how dividing cells sort chromosomes, caused by different HPV genotypes and different levels of the viral oncogenes that drive cancer.
Stephen Lai
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
Track when osteoradionecrosis develops, how symptoms change, and how DCE-MRI Ktrans values change in HPV-related throat cancer survivors. Use this data to validate risk models based on radiation dose and clinical factors.
Steven Frank
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
Characterize late radiation-associated dysphagia (L-RAD) and identify its subtypes by extending follow-up of a 440-patient randomized trial of proton therapy (IMPT) versus X-ray therapy (IMRT) to 10 years.
The school
Duke University: 61 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 417 research doctorates a year.
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