Welcome to the University of Colorado School of Medicine on the Anschutz Medical Campus.

Many traditional cancer drugs that are used alone to treat lung and breast cancer have produced very little improvement. Also, most anti-cancer drugs are associated with serious side effects due to their lack of selectivity for the tumor cells. These observations suggest that effective treatment of these cancers will require combination therapy. However, the use of multiple agents often increases systemic toxicity.

I am presently interested in targeted drug delivery and use of novel combinations of chemotherapy. I am focusing on learning the responsible mechanisms in order to increase the selective cytotoxicity of common cytotoxins against cancer cells while reducing their systemic toxicity. One approach uses the novel tocopheryl derivative with anti-cancer activity (Tocopheryl Succinate) as an anti-cancer agent. I am also investigating the chemopreventive efficacy of these agents in human lung and breast cancers.

We will test the chemopreventive and anti-cancer effects of different formulations and delivery methods of our drug candidates against different human lung and breast cancer cells. We will also determine if these approaches reduce any of the common side effects of the conventional cancer drugs.