Oliver Joins DCI from Huntsman Cancer Institute

August 30, 2022
By: Shantell Kirkendoll, Senior Science Writer, Duke University School of Medicine

Trudy Oliver, PhD, was recruited to Duke through the prestigious Duke Science & Technology (DST) initiative in partnership with Duke Cancer Institute. She joins DCI as a professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Cancer Biology, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Pathology.

Duke University School of Medicine continues its investment in science faculty recruitment and retention with the selection of four additional Duke Science and Technology Scholars.

This year’s cohort is made up of scholars who are exploring innovations in lung cancer treatment, fat storage and metabolism, aging, and biochemistry.

“The scholars have accepted the challenge to address the most pressing global issues,” said Colin Duckett, PhD, vice dean of basic science at the Duke University School of Medicine. “Their deep scientific knowledge, cultivated through connections at Duke, will help move science forward.” 

Trudy G. Oliver, PhD, joins the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology , after relocating her lab from the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, to Duke. At Huntsman, she was the endowed chair in Cancer Research and associate professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences. Her research focuses on subtypes of lung cancer, specifically squamous and small cell lung cancer. Her lab investigates the mechanisms of tumor initiation, progression, plasticity, and drug resistance to uncover vulnerabilities that may be targeted by therapeutics.

“I completed my PhD in the pharmacology and cancer biology department almost 20 years ago, and I loved my experience and training at Duke,” she said. “I was excited to return and join many wonderful friends and colleagues in this area, and to help give back to the program that launched my own career in science.”  

This is an excerpt of an article by Shantell Kirkendoll, a senior science writer at Duke University School of Medicine. READ about some of the other scholars who have recently been recruited to Duke as Duke Science and Technology Scholars.

Topics

lung cancer, Michael B. Kastan, Trudy Oliver

"Dr. Oliver is well known to many of you from her time as a former trainee in PCB, as well as from her pioneering postdoctoral work with Tyler Jacks at MIT and her independent career at the University of Utah. She is a highly accomplished and internationally recognized cancer biologist whose research program is focused on understanding the pathophysiology of small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Her work has broken new ground by identifying distinct molecular genetic subtypes of SCLC, and further defining exciting new treatment modalities for this disease." — Michael Kastan, MD, PhD, executive director, Duke Cancer Institute, and Colin Duckett, PhD, vice dean of Basic Science, Duke University School of Medicine