UT Health SA Newsroom: CPRIT awards millions to UT Health San Antonio
Cancer prevention programs and initiatives to recruit faculty to UT Health San Antonio got a $3.5 million boost from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).
The awards, announced Aug. 16, bringing total funding to UT Health San Antonio by CPRIT to about $74.6 million since the program began in 2008. The UT Health Cancer Center is one of the state’s National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Centers and is a leader in cancer control programs.
“I am pleased to be joining UT Health San Antonio this month as director of the UT Health Cancer Center and am gratified to see that CPRIT has supported these innovative cancer research and prevention projects and faculty recruitment,” said Ruben A. Mesa, MD, FACP, director, and professor of medicine in the Long School of Medicine.
Recruitment of Siyuan Zheng, PhD
A $2 million award will bring Siyuan Zheng, PhD, to UT Health’s Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute. Dr. Zheng’s faculty appointment will be in the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics of the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine.
Dr. Zheng is currently at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and has extensive experience in the development of computational tools and mining of high-throughput datasets. His primary research focus is using data analysis to gain understandings about the cancer genome, the complete set of genes present in cancer cells.
“Dr. Zheng has already made important observations regarding the genetics of pediatric and adult adrenal cortical cancer and potential treatments. His strengths in computational biology will help us significantly enhance our Big Data and genomic research capabilities to study cancer development as a complex system,” said Peter Houghton, PhD, director of the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute.
Since 2004, UT Health San Antonio, Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute’s (Greehey CCRI) mission has been to advance scientific knowledge relevant to childhood cancer, contribute to understanding its causes, and accelerate the translation of knowledge into novel therapies. Greehey CCRI strives to have a national and global impact on childhood cancer by discovering, developing, and disseminating new scientific knowledge. Our mission consists of three key areas — research, clinical, and education.
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