Research Activities
• To advance early-stage drug discovery in cancer metabolism, I partnered with an in silico drug design firm to identify novel small-molecule allosteric modulators of a key enzyme involved in leukemia.
• To progress to preclinical proof-of-concept in blood cancers, I lead a cross-functional team including cancer clinicians and bioinformatics colleagues and a biotech partner. Novel resistance mechanisms were revealed, resulting in a manuscript in preparation.
• To expand translational research into to multiple cancer types, I collaborated with local cancer centre researchers to initiate a comprehensive and systematic target validation project.
• To extend the authenticity of academic drug discovery research, I participated in two industry-mentored projects with go/no-go milestone structures.

Teaching Activities
• To excite first-year non-science students about the impact of life sciences, I created a successful course "The Art of Drug Discovery", >500 students/term X 8 years
• In order to provide focused education in drug discovery and development to senior undergraduate and graduate students, I co-ordinate a team-taught course with pharmaceutical industry scientists and create writing assignments that build translational research competency. Course evaluations from >50 students/year X 5 years are highly positive, along with year-over-year increases in adjunct faculty engagement.
• To prime students for their success with upcoming hands-on translational research projects, I teamed with 3 faculty to create the faculty's first biomedical incubator (startup) course and an innovative competency-based course to precede it. The team was awarded $100K in funding to launch the courses and develop the online module components.