Fellowship

Fellowship

Fellowship in Ovarian Cancer Research

The Jacquie Liggett Fellowship for research is awarded to a qualified MD or PhD conducting research in the field of ovarian cancer. The Fellow receives a stipend of $50,000 a year for two years, and an additional third year can be approved depending on the quality and accomplishments of the research. Past award recipients have been researchers (experts in ovarian cancer) from the Moffitt Cancer Center at the University of South Florida in Tampa.


Congratulations to Ou Deng, MD, PhD for being awarded the 2022-2024 Fellowship! Dr. Deng is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Drug Discovery Department at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, Florida.

  Jacquie Liggett Fellowship Research Grant Awardees

Ou Deng, M.D., Ph.D.

2022-2024 Current Fellow

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Drug Discovery Department, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
  • Ph.D., Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

Dr. Deng's research - PARP protein complexes and signaling in response to PARPi in BRCA-proficient ovarian cancer - will investigate proteins that could indicate a meaningful response to PARP1 targeting therapies in BRCA-proficient ovarian cancer patients. Novel targeted therapies for PARP1 provide significant benefit to ovarian cancer patients with BRCA-deficient tumors, but some BRCA-proficient ovarian tumors are unexpectedly also sensitive to these therapies. However, the underlying mechanisms and biomarkers to identify patients who would benefit are not well understood.

Sophia George, Ph.D.

2020-2022 7th Fellow

  • Research Assistant Professor, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
  • Postdoctoral Training, Miami Miller School of Medicine
  • Ph.D., School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto

Dr. George will investigate the relationship between the fallopian tube and the ovary to determine how these two organs interrelate. Most importantly this work will identify profiles of gene expression in ER sub populations that may contribute to tumor genesis. This data may improve our ability to identify premalignant lesions and ultimately present the development of frank cancer. It will also determine how the premalignant disease progresses.

Juan Cubillos-Ruiz, Ph.D.

2017-2020 6th Fellow

  • Assistant Professor, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York
  • Postdoctoral Training, Harvard University and Weill Cornell Medicine
  • Ph.D., Dartmouth Medical School

Harnessing the intrinsic ability of our immune system to eliminate malignant cells represents the most promising anti-cancer strategy since the development of chemotherapy. Immunotherapy is shifting the face of cancer treatment, but adverse microenvironmental conditions within ovarian tumors inhibit the protective activity of immune cells and thus represent an impediment to the success of this approach. New and more effective strategies are urgently needed in the clinic to re-arm the immune system against ovarian cancer. We have discovered that immune cells in ovarian cancer are “stressed out” due to adverse factors and conditions that these tumors can produce. Our project’s central hypothesis is that stressed out immune cells inside the ovarian tumor are unable to execute their protective functions. To prove this, we will determine how ovarian cancer induces cellular stress in the immune system, and test whether disabling “stress sensors” in immune cells could be used as a novel immunotherapeutic approach for ovarian cancer.

Tilly Jenkins Vogel, M.D.

2014-2016 5th Fellow

  • Assistant Professor, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, California
  • Postdoctoral Training, University of Washington School of Medicine
  • Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. Vogel's project aims to study a very important area of ovarian cancer research - the origins of ovarian cancer. Recent research supports the fallopian tube (and not the ovary) as the site of origin of serous ovarian cancer. New stem cell science has enabled never before modeling of many tissues and even organs. She will use a novel cell system with the goal of understanding the driver and causes of cancer. She will work to establish a model of fallopian tube epithelium using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). It is her hope that with better understanding of the steps leading to cancer development, she may be able to identify a precursor lesion or early disease marker such that physicians can diagnose cancer earlier, initiate appropriate treatment and improve patient survival.

Douglas C. Marchion, Ph.D.

2008-2010 3rd Fellow

  • Research Scientist, Moffitt Cancer Center, University of South Florida, Tampa
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellowship,  H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
  • Ph.D., University of Montana

The third fellow selected, Dr. Marchion has considerable experience in translational research in women’s oncology. With the support of the Liggett Fellowship in Ovarian Cancer Research, Dr. Marchion conducted research whether ovarian cancer is unifocal or multifocal in origin. His three year study determined that the cancer has unifocal origin. 

Robert Wenham, M.D., MSc

2006-2007 2nd Fellow

  • Assistant Professor, Moffitt Cancer Center, University of South Florida, Tampa
  • Fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology, Duke University
  • Resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
  • M.D., MSc, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School

The second fellow selected, Dr. Wenham began his fellowship in July of 2006. He investigated novel therapeutics and drug combinations that could overcome chemotherapy resistance. Dr. Wenham is a co-investigator of a clinical trial to apply what they have learned in the laboratory to treat patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

Johnathan M. Lancaster, M.D., Ph.D.

2003-2005 1st Fellow

  • Associate Professor, Moffitt Cancer Center, University of South Florida, Tampa
  • Division Chief, Gynecologic Surgical Oncology
  • Medical Director, Lifetime Cancer Screening & Prevention Center
  • Fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology, Duke University
  • Resident in Obstetric & Gynecology, Cambridge University, U.K.
  • M.D. University of Wales, U.K.
  • Ph.D. University of Wales, U.K.

Awarded the first Jacquie Liggett Fellowship in Ovarian Cancer Research beginning in July 2003. Dr. Lancaster investigated the molecular genetic causes of ovarian cancer development, in its progression and response to therapy. The purpose of this research is to enable physicians to direct more specific chemotherapeutic interventions. 

Jacquie Liggett Fellowship in Clinical Training


The Jacquie Ligget Fellowship in Clinical Training is awarded to a gynecologic oncologist in training in one of the approved programs in the United Stated with priority given to Florida. The award will be given to the fellow who will spend his/her research year investigating ovarian cancer conducting clinical, basic or translation research. The fellowship must have the approval of the Board of Gynecologic Oncology. The research should be continued into the second year or longer. Twice a year a written report as to the progress of the research will be submitted to H.O.W. The award will be for $50,000 per year for two years. An additional third year may be approved. If the Fellow presents at a recognized society, H.O.W. will contribute an additional $2,000  towards the expenses.

Nadim Bou Zgheib, M.D.

2011-2012 4th Fellow

  • H.O.W. Fellowship, Moffitt Cancer Center, University of South Florida, Tampa
  • Resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology, St. Luke's Hospital and Health Network, Bethlehem, PA; American University of Beirut; Lebanon, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute, New York, NY
  • Board Member of the Up the Volume Foundation
  • M.D., Lebanese University

Dr. Nadim Zgheib was selected for clinical training in the division of gynecologic oncology at the University of South Florida Medical School under the direction of Dr. Michael Hoffman. The first year of this three-year fellowship is spent in ovarian cancer research under the direction of Johnathan Lancaster of the Moffit Cancer Center. He will study genetic pathways that cause ovarian cancer cells to stop responding to chemotherapy. If researchers can understand the genetic changes that cause cancers to become chemo-resistant, they may be able to develop drugs to reverse the process and prolong survival. The last two years are devoted to clinical training.

Jacquie Liggett Fellowship - Other Research Grants

Alexandra Martin, M.D.

2020-2021

  • Cancer Researcher, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa
  • Postdoctoral Training, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa
  • M.D., University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY

Dr. Martin is investigating an innovative way of dosing (PARP) inhibitors, a common therapy for ovarian cancer in both treatment and maintenance settings. Rather that standard dosing, she will use adaptive therapy based on mathematical models and evolutionary principles to guide drug dosing and on-off cycling, with the goal of maintaining a stable tumor burden by allowing a population of treatment-sensitive cells to survive. This work will identify suitable biomarkers to further refine their mathematical models for use in ovarian cancer patients in an effort to delay or prevent drug resistance and disease progression, decrease cumulative drug use, decrease toxicities, increase quality of life and save healthcare dollars.

Jeremy W. Chambers, Ph.D.

2015-2016

  • Assistant Professor, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University
  • Senior Postdoctoral Associate, The Scripps Resesarch Institute
  • Ph.D., Clemson University

The aim of this research is to determine personalized chemotherapeutic strategies to prevent unnecessary exposure to toxic drugs and improve treatment results for ovarian cancer. New chemicals are needed to obtain this result. Strategies that identify the extent of mitochondrial priming can be used to predict chemotherapeutic success, while molecules that prime mitochondria for cell death may improve current treatments and decrease recurrence. We hypothesize that elevated levels of a protein called Sab on the mitochondrial surfaces prime mitochondria for death. We propose that Sab levels within ovarian tumors represent a predictive index for chemotherapeutic sensitivity; thus chemicals that increase Sab concentration can be used to improve chemotherapy responses even chemoresistant ovarian cancers. Our research will assess the relationship between Sab levels and chemosensitivity in a panel of ovarian cancer cell lines. This research will attempt to produce a predictive assay that will determine effective treatments options for individual patients and discover new chemicals that will improve existing treatments and prevent the recurrence of ovarian cancer.

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