Harold I. Saavedra, Ph.D. Professor
Department of Basic Sciences Program of Pharmacology
Ponce Health Sciences University
Collaborating Member, Cancer Biology & Evolution Program, Moffitt Cancer Center
Administration Core, Ponce Health Sciences University-Moffit Cancer Center U54
Co-leader, Planning and Evaluation Core, Ponce Health Sciences University-Moffit Cancer Center U54
Co-leader, Professional Development Core Hispanic ALLIANCE U54
The Hispanic Alliance announces that Dr. Harold I. Saavedra, the PHSU co-leader of the Professional Development Core (PDC) obtained an R01 entitled Targeting centrosome‐mitotic kinases as a novel therapeutic approach against breast cancers in Hispanic/Latinas. This is based on observations that Hispanic/Latinas with breast cancers have a poorer prognosis than non-Hispanic white women. This poor mortality is in part due to socioeconomic factors. It is also due to biological reasons, including the detection of breast cancers at later stages, of larger tumors, and higher rates of triple-negative breast cancers, (a highly-aggressive breast cancer subtype for which there are no biological therapies available). The R01 will investigate how targeting centrosome-specific kinases that are specifically dysregulated in Hispanic/Latinas, in particular Puerto Rican women, modify the tumor growth and metastatic potential of triple-negative breast cancers.
