SCOR Members

Research Interests: Jean-Sebastien is a biostatistician whose work focuses on clinical cancer research. He collaborates with various investigators across the cancer center, assisting with study design, data analysis, manuscript preparation, grant proposals and developing new statistical methods to address emerging approaches in ongoing cancer research.

Research Interests: Dr. Balasubramanian is a cell biologist and founder of PranaScience Institute. He conducts research on yogic breathing’s mechanisms and applications with a particular focus on cancer survivors and develops methods and tools (e.g., apps) to provide training on yogic breathing.

Thomas Curran, M.D., MPH, is a fellowship trained colorectal surgeon. His clinical interests include benign anorectal conditions, diverticulitis, inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease), and colon and rectal cancer with a particular focus on minimally invasive and robotic surgical procedures. His research program focuses on comparative effectiveness and quality improvement in colon and rectal surgery. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed scientific publications and is active in multiple national surgical societies related to colon and rectal surgery.

Dr. Curran received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and subsequently his medical degree from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. He completed general surgery residency and research fellowship at the Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston during which time he received a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. From there he pursued a year of specialty fellowship training in colon and rectal surgery at the University of Minnesota before joining the faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina.

The Innovation Sciences Unit is led by Dr. Jennifer Dahne, a Professor within the Addiction Sciences Division of the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Dahne is an academic entrepreneur who has received five small business grants from various NIH institutes (NIMH, NIDA, NCATS, NIMHD) totaling more than $3M. Dr. Dahne has co-founded two faculty-led spinout companies, both of which are in the digital health space. Dr. Dahne has led the development, evaluation, and commercialization of five commercially available digital health products to date. These products have been evaluated via rigorous randomized clinical trials which have accrued more than 1,000 patients. In addition to entrepreneurial ventures, Dr. Dahne directs a research laboratory within the Addiction Sciences Division that has received numerous traditional NIH grant awards including R01, R21, and K23 funding. Dr. Dahne is passionate about translating academic innovations into products that can be widely disseminated and commercialized in order to improve public health.

Research Interests: Reid is a biostatistician who assists researchers with the design and appropriate analysis of oncology projects ranging from basic and translational experiments to clinical and population-based research. He is additionally involved in database creation and management and the monitoring of data quality to ensure the collection of clinical and safety endpoints.

Benjamin Djulbegovic is a Professor of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, where he serves as a section Chief of Benign Hematology and Director of the Hematology Stewardship Program. His primary academic and research interest lies in attempts to measure and optimize clinical research and practice of medicine by understanding the nature of medical evidence and decision-making. To this effect, his work aims to close the translational research circle by integrating methods and techniques across evidence-based medicine (EBM), predictive analytics, health outcome research, and decision sciences with the goals of reducing overuse, underuse, and misuse of delivery of health services to improve patients' health outcomes.

Dr. Djulbegovic has systematically applied the science of EBM and decision analysis to the entire fields of hematology and oncology that, resulted in two books; the book on "Reasoning and decision-making in hematology" was listed as one of the best books by J Natl Cancer Inst and the book "Decision Making in Oncology. Evidence-based management" was assessed as "one of the first and best attempts to apply an evidence-based approach to the practice of medical oncology."

As of April 2022, he has published over 400 papers in peer-review journals, 196 abstracts, and numerous book chapters. He also received numerous awards for his work, published in major scientific and medical journals, including Nature, Lancet, JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, BMJ, etc. He has also widely taught these subjects. During the last 25 years, Dr. Djulbegovic has received continuous external funding from federal and private entities. He was also selected in Newsweek's list of Top Cancer Doctors and, since 2011 continuously been selected among 1% of top US doctors by the US News \& World Report in the field of hematology. His current h-index is 72, and he has been regularly included in the top 1% cited scientists worldwide.

Kathryn E. Engelhardt, M.D., MS, is double board-certified in thoracic surgery and general surgery; she specializes in surgery of the lung, airway, esophagus, stomach, chest wall, and mediastinum. Whenever possible, Dr. Engelhardt performs surgery using minimally invasive robotic technology, providing optimal outcomes, quicker recoveries, and shorter hospital stays.

Dr. Engelhardt completed medical school at the University of Cincinnati and completed general surgery residency at MUSC. She then completed a two-year cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University in St Louis; a hospital consistently ranked among the best in the country by US News and World Report.

Academically, Dr. Engelhardt is an Associate Program Director in the General Surgery Residency Program, where she serves as the Director of Resident Professional Development. 

My research focuses on the psychosocial and behavioral aspects of cancer. I aim to develop, test, and disseminate psychosocial and behavioral interventions to improve symptom management and quality of life in cancer survivors. I am particularly interested in interventions that enhance quality of life in the growing population of survivors living with advanced and chronic cancer.

Dr. Amanda Kastrinos uses a lifespan development and family communication lens to examine cancer caregivers support needs and develop tailored caregiving support interventions.

Dr. Kelechi is a gerontological clinical nurse specialist, certified wound care nurse, and nurse scientist. Her research focuses on the development, evaluation and implementation of self-management interventions to improve wound healing outcomes in populations with chronic conditions and stress reduction interventions in older caregivers.

Clinical Focus: Dr. Marrison is a family medicine physician with expertise in cancer survivorship. She leads onco-primary care services at Hollings Cancer Center.

Dr. Mollica recently joined the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) as Associate Professor with the College of Nursing and Director of Survivorship Care and Delivery at Hollings Cancer Center and the Survivorship and Cancer Outcomes Research (SCOR) Initiative.

Dr. Mollica previously served as Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Cancer Survivorship within the National Institutes of Health, where she was responsible for leading strategic research efforts focused on improving outcomes and care for people impacted by cancer. Dr. Mollica’s research focuses on the intersection of survivorship and health care delivery, including models of survivorship care, integration of oncology and primary care providers, transitions in care and the unique needs of specific survivor populations, including people living with advanced and metastatic cancers.

Dr. Mollica led the development of the National Standards for Cancer Survivorship Care, which provides a framework to health systems with essential policy, process and evaluation components to assess and improve the quality of survivorship care. The survivorship standards are currently being piloted within health systems nationally, with the ultimate goal of delivering comprehensive care for every cancer survivor.

Dr. Mollica earned her Ph.D. from MUSC, MPH from the University at Buffalo, MS from Daemen University and BSN from Columbia University.

Dr. Obeid is a Professor and SmartState Endowed Chair in Biomedical Informatics in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Dr. Obeid is a pediatrician who was formally trained in Medical Informatics at the Division of Health Sciences and Technology, a joint Harvard-MIT fellowship program.

He served as the Associate Director of the Biomedical Informatics Center (BMIC) for over a decade where he led the development of several academic and operational research informatics initiatives including the electronic health records (EHR) Research Data Warehouse (RDW), REDCap, and many others. Since his arrival at MUSC, he has served as principal investigator, co-investigator, and informatics leader on numerous federally funded projects. At the national level, he led several working groups related to translational research informatics. Dr. Obeid is the founder and director of two courses in Biomedical Informatics (MCR-746: Informatics and Data Management for Clinical Research and BDSI-712: Translational Informatics).

His research interests include artificial intelligence (AI), specifically, deep learning and large language models applications using EHR data for e-phenotyping and predictive modeling with focus on clinical text mining. Other research interests include natural language processing, electronic consents, secondary use of EHR data/data warehousing, and biomedical ontologies.

Dr. Obeid is the co-founder of the AI Hub at MUSC. He serves as the director of the Cancer Integrated Data-Enabled Resource (CIDER), which integrates a variety of multimodal data, and provides several services to researchers including, consultations, feasibility queries, brokered access to integrated data, and AI and NLP research services.

Research Interests: Dr. Rojewski is a psychologist with a focus on cancer control. Her research interests include tobacco treatment interventions for populations with medical comorbidities and implementing tobacco treatment interventions in the health care system.

Ken Ruggiero, PhD, is Professor and SmartState Endowed Chair of the Technology Applications Center for Healthful Lifestyles (TACHL), as well as Director of the Telehealth Resilience and Recovery Program. He received his BA from the State University of New York at Buffalo and MA and PhD from West Virginia University, and completed his internship and NIMH postdoc at MUSC. Dr. Ruggiero’s research centers on the development, testing, and implementation of technology-enhanced interventions. Most of his early research focused on brief, web-based self-help interventions. Over time, this work evolved into the use and evaluation of technology-based stepped care approaches for victims of disaster and serious injury. He is PI on an active NIH grant (through 2021) to conduct a randomized controlled trial of Bounce Back Now, a smartphone-based intervention for disaster survivors in partnership with the American Red Cross. He is also Co-PI on an active Duke Endowment grant (through 2020) to adapt and implement the Telehealth Resilience and Recovery Program in three partnering trauma centers in South Carolina.

I am a behavioral scientist with training in health behavior and health education, implementation science and scale development and measurement. My research at MUSC has focused on the development, testing and dissemination of family-focused interventions to improve care transitions for cancer survivors and their informal caregivers. This research spans the intervention development spectrum and is guided by behavioral theories and implementation science principles to facilitate behavior change and timely, sustained intervention uptake. My research uses mixed methods and relies on building partnerships with interdisciplinary research teams and community members.

Benjamin Toll, Ph.D., a professor of public health sciences and psychiatry at MUSC, specializes in the treatment of tobacco use disorders and improvement of health behaviors. As associate director, his goal is to provide well-structured and effective education and training opportunities for pre- and post-doctoral students and junior faculty at Hollings Cancer Center.

Maggie Westfal, M.D., MPH, is a fellowship-trained colon and rectal surgeon specializing in both benign and malignant diseases of the colon, rectum, and anus. Clinically she is interested in colon, rectal, and anal cancer as well as benign anorectal disease, inflammatory bowel disease, diverticular disease, and rectal prolapse. From a surgical perspective, Dr. Westfal has been trained in all techniques of colon and rectal surgery but is specifically interested in minimally invasive and robotic approaches.

Dr. Westfal earned her medical degree and Master of Public Health degree at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. She remained in Boston for general surgery residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital where she spent three years performing clinical outcomes research and implementing the research skills that she acquired during her public health studies. Her research interests include early onset colorectal cancer, including patients with both hereditary and non-hereditary disease. She completed her fellowship training in colon and rectal surgery at Barnes Jewish Hospital/Washington University in St. Louis.

Evan M. Graboyes, M.D., MPH, is a Professor in the Departments of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Public Health Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, where he serves as the Medical Director of the Survivorship Program and Director of Survivorship and Cancer Outcomes Research (SCOR) at the NCI-designated Hollings Cancer Center. As a fellowship-trained head and neck surgical oncologist and microvascular reconstructive surgeon, Dr. Graboyes focuses on the removal and reconstruction of benign and malignant head and neck tumors. Dr. Graboyes is certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Dr. Graboyes' clinical practice as a head and neck surgical oncologist informs and grounds his research program, which leverages his scientific training in supportive oncology, health behavior, and health services research to understand and address issues in cancer survivorship. Supported by more than $15 million in NCI funding, he has been the Principal Investigator on six NCI-funded trials evaluating cancer care delivery and supportive care interventions among cancer survivors. He has published more than 160 articles related to head and neck cancer, cancer survivorship, and cancer care delivery in leading clinical oncology journals.

At a national level, he is at the forefront of conversations shaping cancer care delivery and cancer survivorship through his work at NRG Oncology/NCORP (Vice Chair, Healthcare Access Research Committee), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Chair-Elect, Health Policy Committee), the National Cancer Institute (Member, Social Determinants of Health Working Group), and the American Head and Neck Society (Chair, Value & Quality of Care Committee; Liaison, Commission on Cancer). He also serves as the Deputy Editor of JAMA-Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.

Dr. Graboyes was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and raised in Wisconsin. He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with degrees in philosophy and public policy. He received his medical degree and completed his otolaryngology residency at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He completed his head and neck oncologic and reconstructive surgery fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina, where he also received his Master of Public Health in Health Behavior and Health Promotion. He enjoys being outdoors in the Charleston area with his wife and three children.

Dr. Mollica recently joined the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) as Associate Professor with the College of Nursing and Director of Survivorship Care and Delivery at Hollings Cancer Center and the Survivorship and Cancer Outcomes Research (SCOR) Initiative.

Dr. Mollica previously served as Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Cancer Survivorship within the National Institutes of Health, where she was responsible for leading strategic research efforts focused on improving outcomes and care for people impacted by cancer. Dr. Mollica’s research focuses on the intersection of survivorship and health care delivery, including models of survivorship care, integration of oncology and primary care providers, transitions in care and the unique needs of specific survivor populations, including people living with advanced and metastatic cancers.

Dr. Mollica led the development of the National Standards for Cancer Survivorship Care, which provides a framework to health systems with essential policy, process and evaluation components to assess and improve the quality of survivorship care. The survivorship standards are currently being piloted within health systems nationally, with the ultimate goal of delivering comprehensive care for every cancer survivor.

Dr. Mollica earned her Ph.D. from MUSC, MPH from the University at Buffalo, MS from Daemen University and BSN from Columbia University.

Anne manages the design, implementation, and associated daily administrative activities of the survivorship program at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. Anne’s focus is to further develop comprehensive programming and services to meet survivorship patients' needs per national standards, accreditation, and best practice quality standards.

Clinical Focus: Dr. Marrison is a family medicine physician with expertise in cancer survivorship. She leads onco-primary care services at Hollings Cancer Center.

Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Director, Behavioral Medicine Clinical Training
Internship Rotation Director, MUSC Hollings Cancer Center and Behavioral Medicine (IOP) Program
Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Paul is a clinical social worker with expertise in oncology. As the leader of the Hollings social work team, his current clinical focus is on helping identify and address health-related social risks and needs among people with cancer, particularly those undergoing bone marrow transplant.

Dr. Katie Schmitt graduated from Columbia University Medical Center in 2018 with her Doctorate in Physical Therapy. In 2023 she received board certification in oncologic physical therapy and became a certified lymphedema therapist. In addition to working with patients with different forms of cancer, she specializes in the treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, for which she teaches presents lectures across the world. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband Jesse and making furniture. 

Cindi coordinates holistic fitness programs for clinical populations at the MUSC Wellness Center. Her focus is on optimizing overall wellness for individuals living with chronic medical conditions including cancer survivors. Her passion lies in meeting individuals where they are in their wellness journey and empowering them to achieve their health goals.

Research Interests: Dr. Rojewski is a psychologist with a focus on cancer control. Her research interests include tobacco treatment interventions for populations with medical comorbidities and implementing tobacco treatment interventions in the health care system.

Marie is an art therapist and marriage & family therapist with expertise in counseling oncology patients and their caregivers during and after cancer treatment. She focuses on stress management, improved quality of life, and legacy work with her patients.

Dr. Kalsman was born and raised in Southern Arizona. He trained at the University of Arizona with graduate degrees in pharmacy and medicine. He completed his residency in Family Medicine at the University of Utah in 1998. After finishing a fellowship in rural medicine, he has spent most of his career practicing and teaching family medicine in rural Western New York. He has earned awards at the state level for his care of underserved populations.His practice has truly been a picture of family medicine by providing services from advanced maternity care to home visits.

Dr. Kalsman has held faculty positions with both the University of Utah and the University of Buffalo. He is fellowship trained and board certified in integrative medicine, which focuses on combining evidence based natural healing methods with contemporary medicine. He completed medical acupuncture training through Harvard in 2017.

Dr Kalsman's focus is on the healing relationship he develops with patients. His interests include integrative family medicine, preventive medicine, and medical acupuncture.

Dr. Dumitriu is a pediatric hematologist/oncologist and the director of MUSC's pediatric cancer survivorship program. Her interest lies in continuity of care for pediatric cancer survivors in South Carolina and addressing challenges that survivors face. Dr. Dumitriu participates in Children's Oncology Group (COG) studies that look at long-term side effects in childhood cancer survivors.

Ashton is a dedicated physician assistant with a strong passion for providing comprehensive care to head and neck cancer patients throughout their journey—from diagnosis to treatment and beyond. Her expertise includes managing the unique challenges of head and neck cancer and post-treatment side effects, such as those from surgery and radiation therapy, while remaining proactive in preventative care to minimize future risks. Ashton takes great pride in offering patient-centered care that not only addresses cancer and treatment-related concerns, but also embraces a holistic approach to support the overall well-being of her patients.

Emily Ryttse is a nurse practitioner in Radiation Medicine at Hollings Cancer Center. Originally from Tampa, Florida, Emily earned her BSN at the University of Florida in 2017. Upon graduation Emily worked as a pediatric oncology nurse for four years. Emily then transitioned to infusion for adult oncology patients and received her MSN from the University of South Florida in 2023. She is board certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Emily enjoys forming trusting relationships with her patients and families and looks forward to doing so here at MUSC.

Kathleen T. Brady, M.D., Ph.D., is a clinical and translational researcher with more than 30 years of experience at multiple levels in the translational research spectrum. Her research focuses on the development of new treatments for individuals with substance use disorders, with an emphasis on translating study findings into effective treatment interventions. She began her research career conducting basic science work in the drug abuse field and received her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Pharmacology.

Dr. Brady moved into clinical and translational research after finishing her residency in psychiatry in 1989. She has been continuously federally funded to conduct research since 1989. Her recent research activities involve the interface between basic and clinical science investigating the mechanistic connection between stress and substance use disorders and in the translation of empirically-based treatments from academic medical centers to front-line treatment settings.

Hermes J. Florez, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, received his M.D. from the University of Zulia in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and his Ph.D. and MPH from the University of Miami School of Medicine. Following his initial career as Professor of Public Health Sciences and Medicine at Miami, he recently joined MUSC as Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences at MUSC and as a member of the Endocrinology Medical Service at the Robert H. Johnson Veterans’ Administration Medical Center in Charleston.

As a public health physician-scientist with training in Endocrinology and Geriatrics, the primary goal of Dr. Florez’s research efforts is to reduce the burden of chronic diseases and promote healthier aging through the implementation of best practices for prevention and management. He has a current focus on diabetes and cardiovascular disease. He is the national and international leader of projects focused on the role of genetics, gene-environment interactions, fitness promotion and pharmacological interventions using oral hypoglycemic agents in determining outcome in pre-diabetes and diabetes care. His studies in the VA system and in Latin America have been funded by the Pan American Health Organization, the American Heart Association, the International Diabetes Foundation, the VA National Center for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention, and the Center for Disease Control Prevention (CDC), as well as the NIH. As a member of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Professional Practice committee, he leads national efforts to develop guidelines for diabetes management in older adults.

In addition to continuing his long-term research on diabetes disease mechanisms and, he will leverage his clinical and epidemiological expertise to analyze social determinants of health including the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and their impact on chronic disease care in the VA health system. These efforts will seek to coordinate clinical and quality improvement initiatives to reduce the burden of COVID-19 in older adults, particularly those with other pre-existing disease and in long-term care settings.

Denis C. Guttridge, Ph.D., joined MUSC in 2018 as the Hollings Cancer Center associate director of translational science and the director of the Charles P. Darby Children’s Research Institute. Guttridge holds a robust research funding portfolio and has authored more than 130 peer-reviewed publications. He has received numerous recognitions for his contributions to cancer research and his dedication to fostering multidisciplinary and collaborative science.

A large part of my laboratory is focused on understanding and developing diagnostic methods and treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a primary cancer of the liver that kills close to 1 million people every year. Our lab was one of the first to perform total serum glycan analysis for biomarker detection and one of the first to perform serum glycoproteomics. Through this we identified over 30 serum glycoproteins with increased levels of fucose in those with HCC.

Willie works closely with the SCOR director and the SCOR advisory council to provide administrative support for the research, clinical, and educational activities that are critical to SCOR’s mission.