SCOR Research Faculty
Jean-Sebastien K. Anoma, MA, MS
Biostatistician, Biostatistics Shared Resource, Hollings Cancer Center
Senior Research Associate, Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina
anomaj@musc.edu
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.
Sundaravadivel Balasubramanian, Ph.D., C-IAYT
Member, Cancer Prevention & Control Program, Hollings Cancer Center
Yoga Specialist, MUSC Health & Wellness ICCE
Assistant Professor & Wellness Chair, Department of Radiation Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina
balasubr@musc.edu
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
Member, Cancer Prevention & Control Program, Hollings Cancer Center
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina
currant@musc.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Curran is a colorectal surgeon and health services researcher. His research focuses on improving the utilization of guideline-concordant cancer care to improve outcomes and mitigate health disparities.
Jennifer Dahne, Ph.D.
Member, Cancer Prevention & Control Program, Hollings Cancer Center
Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina
dahne@musc.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Dahne is a clinical psychologist whose program of research aims to reduce the public health impact of mental health disorders, with a focus on depression and substance use disorders among patients with cancer and other vulnerable populations (e.g., individuals with physical and mental health comorbidities, socioeconomically disadvantaged adults, rural residents).
Reid DeMass, MS
Biostatistician, Biostatistics Shared Resource, Hollings Cancer Center
Senior Research Associate, Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina
demass@musc.edu
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, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Hematology Stewardship Program, Medical University of South Carolina
Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology & Oncology, Medical University of South Carolina
djulbegov@musc.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Djulbegovic is a medical oncologist and health services researcher. His program of research aims to close the translational research circle by integrating methods and techniques across evidence-based medicine, 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.
Kathryn E. Engelhardt, M.D., MS
Member, Cancer Prevention & Control Program, Hollings Cancer Center
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina
engelhar@musc.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Engelhardt is a thoracic surgical oncologist and health services researcher. Her research includes quality and outcomes database analyses for lung cancer and esophageal cancer care delivery, and the implementation of cancer care delivery interventions to improve the delivery of guideline-concordant care that meets individual patients' care goals across all populations.
Kelly Hyland, Ph.D.
Director of Psychosocial Oncology Research, SCOR, Hollings Cancer Center
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Division of Bio-behavioral Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina
hylandk@musc.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Hyland is a licensed clinical psychologist and psychosocial oncology researcher. Her research aims to develop, test, and disseminate psychosocial and behavioral interventions to improve symptom management and quality of life in cancer survivors.
Amanda Kastrinos, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina
kastrinos@musc.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Kastrinos is a behavior scientist with a background in health and family communication science. Her research seeks to identify and address the unmet needs of family caregivers of cancer patients, using family communication theory and a lifespan theoretical lens to understand how developmental and relational factors impact caregivers’ psychosocial needs.
Teresa Kelechi, Ph.D., RN
Program Director for Recruitment, South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research Institute SUCCESS Center
Associate Dean for Research, Medical University of South Carolina
David & Margaret Clare Endowed Chair, College of Nursing, Medical University of South Carolina
Professor, College of Nursing, Medical University of South Carolina
kelechtj@musc.edu
Research Interests: 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.
Sarah Tucker Marrison, M.D., Ph.D.
Affiliate Member, Cancer Prevention & Control Program, Hollings Cancer Center
Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina
marrison@musc.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Marrison is a family medicine physician and cancer survivorship researcher whose research focuses on multimorbidity among cancer survivors.
Jihad Obeid, M.D.
Associate Director, Biomedical Informatics Center (BMIC), Medical University of South Carolina
SmartState Endowed Chair in Biomedical Informatics, Medical University of South Carolina
Member, Cancer Prevention & Control Program, Hollings Cancer Center
Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina
jobeid@musc.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Obeid is a pediatrician, Associate Director of the Biomedical Informatics Center (BMIC) and Director of the Cancer Integrated Data Enabled Resource (CIDER) at Hollings. His research interests include artificial intelligence (AI), specifically, deep learning with EHR data for e-phenotyping and prediction of outcomes with focus on clinical text mining. Other research interests include natural language processing (NLP), social determinants of health, electronic consents, secondary use of EHR data/data warehousing, analysis of research networks and biomedical ontologies.
Alana Rojewski, Ph.D.
Member, Cancer Prevention & Control Program, Hollings Cancer Center
Associate Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina
rojewski@musc.edu
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, Ph.D.
Director, Digital Health Solutions Program, MUSC South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research Institute
South Carolina SmartState Chair, Technology Applications Center for Healthful Lifestyles, Medical University of South Carolina
Professor, College of Nursing, Medical University of South Carolina
ruggierk@musc.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Ruggiero is a licensed clinical psychologist whose work focuses on the development, evaluation, implementation, and dissemination of digital mental health interventions to improve access and quality of care for a wide range of trauma-affected and high-risk populations.
Katherine Sterba, Ph.D., MPH
Division Director, Health Behavior and Health Promotion, College of Medicine
Member, Cancer Prevention & Control Program, Hollings Cancer Center
Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina
sterba@musc.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Sterba is a behavioral scientist and implementation scientist whose research focuses broadly on the development, testing and dissemination of technology-focused clinic-based interventions for cancer survivors and their caregivers.
Benjamin Toll, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Education and Training, Hollings Cancer Center
Member, Cancer Prevention & Control Program, Hollings Cancer Center
Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina
toll@musc.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Toll is a clinical psychologist with a focus in cancer control. His research aims to test novel smoking cessation treatments that capitalize on message framing and motivational interventions, particularly among patients diagnosed with cancer.
Maggie Westfal, M.D., MPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Colon & Rectal Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina
westfal@musc.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Westfal is a colorectal surgeon at MUSC and health services researcher. Her research focuses on improving outcomes of patients with hereditary cancer, specifically related to their compliance with guideline appropriate surveillance and access to genetic testing and counseling.
