Blossom Damania | |
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Blossom Damania is a virologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is known for her work on oncogenic viruses that cause human cancer. Damania has also been serving as vice dean for research at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine since 2016.
Damania received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College, MA in biochemistry. She graduated summa cum laude from Mount Holyoke College. [1] She also received a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Pennsylvania in Cell and Molecular Biology in 1998 [2] followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School.
Damania was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, MA from 1998 to 2000 where she worked on herpesvirus biology. She received a postdoctoral fellowship from the Cancer Research Institute for this work. [3]
In 2000, Damania started working as an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the School of Medicine. Damania is a member of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology and the Genetics Curriculum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Damania laboratory is located in the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [4]
Damania was promoted to associate professor of microbiology and immunology in 2006 and full professor in 2011. She is currently the Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the co-leader of the virology program and co-director of the program in global oncology in the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. She served as assistant dean for research in the School of Medicine [5] and is currently vice dean for research in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [6]
The Damania lab works at the intersection of viruses, cancer biology, and immunity. Damania has published over one hundred publications related to these scientific areas. [7] Expertscape lists Damania as one of the topmost experts in the world on Kaposi sarcoma. [8]
Damania has been the recipient of numerous awards [4] as listed below:
V Foundation for Cancer Research Scholar Award,
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Gertrude B. Elion Research Scholar,
American Herpes Foundation Research Scholar Award,
Mary Lyon Alumnae Award, Mount Holyoke College,
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar,
Jefferson-Pilot Award in Faculty Medicine,
American Heart Association Established Investigator Award,
Burroughs Wellcome Investigator in Infectious Disease,
Ruth and Phillip Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement,
Dolph O. Adams Award from the Society for Leukocyte Biology.
Damania is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, USA, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In 2020, Damania was elected as Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. [9]
Aziz Sancar is a Turkish molecular biologist specializing in DNA repair, cell cycle checkpoints, and circadian clock. In 2015, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Tomas Lindahl and Paul L. Modrich for their mechanistic studies of DNA repair. He has made contributions on photolyase and nucleotide excision repair in bacteria that have changed his field.
Edison T. Liu is an American chemist who is the former president and CEO of The Jackson Laboratory, and the former director of its NCI-designated Cancer Center (2012-2021). Before joining The Jackson Laboratory, he was the founding executive director of the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), chairman of the board of the Health Sciences Authority, and president of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO) (2007-2013). As the executive director of the GIS, he brought the institution to international prominence as one of the most productive genomics institutions in the world.
Mary Ellen Jones was an American biochemist. She was notable for discovery of carbamoyl phosphate, a chemical substance that is key to the biosynthesis of arginine and urea, and for the biosynthesis of pyrimidine nucleotides. Jones became the first woman to hold a chair at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the first woman to become a department chair at the medical school. She was a member of the National Academy of Sciences. She was also president of the Association of Medical School Departments of Biochemistry, president of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and president of the American Association of University Professors. The New York Times called her a "crucial researcher on DNA" and said that her studies laid the foundation for basic cancer research. She died of cancer on August 23, 1996.
The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center is a cancer research and treatment center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. One of 52 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the United States, its clinical base is the N.C. Cancer Hospital, part of the UNC Health Care system. UNC Lineberger is the only public NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center in the state of North Carolina. The current director is H. Shelton Earp III who succeeded current NCI director Norman Sharpless.
Almyra Oveta Fuller was an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at University of Michigan Medical School. She served as the director of the African Studies Center (ASC), faculty in the ASC STEM Initiative at the University of Michigan (U-M) and an adjunct professor at Payne Theological Seminary. Fuller was a virologist and specialized in research of Herpes simplex virus, as well as HIV/AIDS. Fuller and her research team discovered a B5 receptor, advancing the understanding of Herpes simplex virus and the cells it attacks.
Bryce Byrum Reeve III is an American psychometrician, outcomes research scientist, professor of Health Policy and Management at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, and faculty expert at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is a prominent figure in quantitative research on improving the measurement of patient-reported health outcomes.
Nancy Allbritton is a Professor of Bioengineering and the Frank & Julie Jungers Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Washington. She was previously a Kenan Professor and Chair in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.
Thea D. Tlsty is an American pathologist and professor of pathology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is known for her research in cancer biology and her involvement in the discovery of cells that may be at the origin of metaplastic cancer, an invasive form of breast cancer.
Lisa A. Carey is a Distinguished Professor in Breast Cancer Research at UNC School of Medicine, Division Chief of Hematology and Oncology, and physician-in-chief of the N.C. Cancer Hospital, UNC Lineberger's clinical home. She studied at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and was named co-chair of the Alliance National Cooperative Group Breast Committee in 2016.
Wendy Rosamund Brewster was a British-born American gynaecologist who was Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Director of the Center for Women's Health Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Gary L. Johnson is an American scientist and Professor recognized for his work with oncogenes and stem cells in the fields of molecular pharmacology and cancer cell biology. His other research interests include signaling networks controlling cell function and disease and the behavior of the kinome en masse in cancer.
Katherine A. Hoadley is an American breast cancer researcher. As of 2017, she has served as the Associate Director of Cancer Genomics for the High-Throughput Sequencing Facility at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her research is focused on understanding the biology of cancer through gene expression analyses and integrative genomic approaches.
David "Neil" Hayes is an American oncologist and physician–scientist. He is the Van Vleet Endowed Professor in Medical Oncology and the division chief of haematology and oncology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. As a result of his research, Hayes was elected a Member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
Marian Cecelia Johnson-Thompson is an American virologist who was a professor at the University of the District of Columbia. She was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Channing Joseph Der is an American scientist and educator, and Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology, at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Der is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, He is recognized for his work with the Ras oncoprotein and its role in human oncogenesis.
Jennifer Y. Webster-Cyriaque is an American dentist and immunologist specializing in the oral microbiome, salivary gland disease in patients with HIV, and cancer-causing viruses. She became the deputy director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in November 2020. Webster-Cyriaque was a faculty member at UNC Adams School of Dentistry and the UNC School of Medicine for 21 years.
W. Kimryn Rathmell is an American physician-scientist whose work focuses on the research and treatment of patients with kidney cancers. She is the 17th Director of the National Cancer Institute, having previously served as the Hugh Jackson Morgan Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), and Physician-in-Chief for Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital and Clinics in Nashville, Tennessee. On November 17, 2023, Rathmell was nominated by President Biden as the next Director of the National Cancer Institute and she assumed office on December 18, 2023.
Mary Lou McMaster is an American oncologist and clinical trialist who researches familial cancer genetics. She is a senior clinical trial specialist at the National Cancer Institute and a captain in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
Terry R. Magnuson is an American developmental geneticist and academic administrator who is the Kay M. & Van L. Weatherspoon Eminent Distinguished Professor of Genetics. He was the founding chair of the department of genetics at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) from 2000 to 2016. From July 1, 2016, to 2022, he served as the vice chancellor for research.
Brian David Strahl is an American biochemist and molecular biologist. He is currently a professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Strahl is known for his research in the field of chromatin biology and histone modifications. Strahl, with C. David Allis proposed the “histone code hypothesis”.
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