Department News

Rajagopal Ramesh, PhD, awarded five year grant from NCI

Dr. Rajagopal Ramesh, professor of pathology, has been awarded a five year grant for "Cancer Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) in Oklahoma" from the National Cancer Institute.

The objective is to build the next generation of professionals and meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research needs. To achieve this goal, the "Cancer Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) program in Oklahoma aims at producing a cadre of students equipped with training in cancer research that renders them able to matriculate into graduate or professional school.

The 10-week summer program will provide high-quality research training experience to 15 undergraduate students per year nationwide in cancer related-research. Participants will engage in cutting-edge research under the mentorship of OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center faculties performing basic-, prevention, translational-, clinical-, behavioral science- or community engaged-cancer research.

Additionally, the students will participate in a structured and rigorous educational curriculum that includes seminars, career guidance, research ethics, effective writing and communication skills, poster and oral presentation skills, peer-to-peer mentoring, and assistance in writing applications to graduate and professional schools. The CURE program will help the students become highly competitive for entering into graduate or professional schools.

(Note: This is a summer program that provides a stipend of $6000 per student and $1000 per student for housing.)

posted August 1, 2025

PhD Candidate, Alex Arreola, Awarded Predoctoral to Postdoctal Fellow Transition Award

Alex Arreola, PhD Candidate in the lab of Dr. Min Li, has been awarded the NCI F99/K00 Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Fellow Transition Award for his project "Evaluating the role of the tumor macroenvironment in cancer cachexia".

This award supports Ph.D. candidates in completing their dissertation research training (F99 phase) and transitioning into a mentored, cancer-focused postdoctoral research position (K00 phase). During the F99 phase, Alex will conclude his dissertation research focused on how pancreatic tumors influence the nervous system to drive cancer cachexia—a debilitating condition characterized by severe muscle and fat loss. In the K00 phase, he will expand this work by investigating how the liver, a key metabolic organ and common site of pancreatic cancer metastasis, contributes to this syndrome.

Together, these studies aim to provide a more holistic understanding of cancer cachexia by examining how tumors interact with their macroenvironment—the broader network of organs and systems they influence. By studying these tumor-host interactions, Alex's goal is to reveal new therapeutic targets capable of improving treatment outcomes and quality of life of cancer patients suffering from cachexia.

posted August 1, 2025

Cindy McCloskey, MD, Receives AAPath's Margaret Grimes Award

Dr. Cindy McCloskey, professor of pathology, has received the Margaret Grimes Distinguished Achievement Award in Graduate Medical Education from the Association for Academic Pathology. A national leader in the education of pathology residents, Dr. McCloskey previously served as assistant dean for graduate medical education of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.

From 2021–2025, Dr. McCloskey chaired the ACGME Pathology Review Committee, which has oversight of all pathology residency training programs in the US. She also chaired the Graduation Medical Education Committee of the College of American Pathologists. Her scholarly work includes the development of entrustable professional activities for trainees.

A member of the College's Jerry Vannatta, MD, Academy of Teaching Scholars, Dr. McCloskey has received its Dewayne Andrews, MD, Excellence in Teaching Award for Graduate Medical Education. She holds the University’s President’s Associates Presidential Professorship.

At OU Health, Dr. McCloskey is the vice-chief of laboratory services and the medical director of the main laboratory. She is a board-certified clinical pathologist, medical microbiologist, and molecular genetic pathologist.

posted May 6, 2025

Priyabrata “Priyo” Mukherjee, PhD, To Become Chair-Elect of AIMBE’s College of Fellows

Dr. Priyo Mukherjee, professor of pathology, has been selected as the incoming chair-elect of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. He is Senior Director for Research Collaborations and Partnerships at the Stephenson Cancer Center and also co-directs the Stephenson's Nanomedicine Program.

A pioneer in nanoengineering and cancer biology, Dr. Mukherjee holds the Peggy and Charles Stephenson Endowed Chair in Laboratory Cancer Research and is a Presbyterian Health Foundation Presidential Professor. He is also a Research Scholar of

Oklahoma's Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET). In 2024, Dr. Mukherjee received the George Lynn Cross Research Professorship, the University of Oklahoma’s highest research honor.

Dr. Mukherjee is an elected fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, the Controlled Release Society, the National Academy of Inventors, and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

posted April 8, 2025

Trainees Win at 50th GREAT Symposium
(Graduate Research Education and Technology)

Shriya Pandey was awarded the Graduate Student Association Award for Scientific Achievement for Excellence in Research Communication for her abstract titled "Overcoming RET Kinase Inhibitor-induced feedback RET Overexpression with Proteolysis Targeting Chimera (PROTAC)".
(Shriya's mentor is Dr. Jie Wu.)

Postdoctoral fellow Nisha Thomas, PhD, received the Graduate College Dean’s Award for Outstanding Research for excellence in research communication for her study in patients with breast cancer linking tamoxifen to the risk of diabetes. Dr. Thomas was also recognized for her receipt of an independent fellowship award—a Harold Hamm Diabetes Center Novel Pilot Project Grant for Post-Docs—from 2023 to 2025. (Nisha's mentor is Dr. Elizabeth Wellberg.)

Joshua Seaberg won the ARL Biopharma Research Award for his work on the delivery of RNA therapeutics using engineered nanoparticles. (Josh’s mentor is Dr. Priyabrata Mukherjee)