As an integral member of the Institute for Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship at UAB, my goal is to understand the molecular and epigenetic basis of adverse outcomes in childhood cancer survivors. Anthracycline-related cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure is the leading cause of late morbidity in survivors of childhood cancers. There is a dose-dependent association between anthracycline exposure and cardiomyopathy risk, suggesting that genetic predisposition possibly modifies this association. I am following an integrative genomics approach to understand whether genetic and epigenetic predisposition can place childhood cancer survivors at an increased risk for developing treatment-related complications and therefore allow for targeted therapy, thus reducing morbidity in children with cancer.
