People
Lisa M. Coussens, M.D. (h.c.), Ph.D., FAACR
Hildegard Lamfrom Endowed Chair in Basic Science
Professor and Chairwoman, Department of Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology
Deputy Director for Basic & Translational Research, Knight Cancer Institute
Graduate Program in Molecular and Cellular Biosciences
Cancer Biology
Cell and Developmental Biology
OHSU Center for Spatial Systems Biomedicine
1980 – Biology, B.A., San Francisco State University
1993 – Biological chemistry, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
Fellowship: Post doctoral fellow, Univ. of Calif., San Francisco; Lab of Douglas Hanahan, Ph.D.
1981-1988 – Research Associate, Molecular and Developmental Biology, Genentech, Inc.
1997-1999 – Assistant Research biochemist, Hormone Research Institute, UCSF
1999-2004 – Assistant Professor (in residence), Department of Pathology and Cancer Res. Inst., UCSF
2004-2006 – Associate Professor (in residence), Department of Pathology and Cancer Res. Inst., UCSF
2006-2007 – Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Cancer Research Institute, UCSF
2007-2012 – Professor, Department of Pathology and Cancer Research Institute, UCSF
2012-2015 – Adjunct Professor, University of California, San Francisco
2011-present – Professor and Chair of Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology, OHSU
2011-present – Associate Director for Basic Research, Knight Cancer Institute, OHSU
Other positions held concurrently
1989-1992 – Lecturer, Biology Department, Whittier College
1992 – Scientific Consultant, Department of Legal Affairs, Genentech, Inc.
2000-2012 – Co-director, Mouse Pathology Core, Hellen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
2007-2009 – Senior and Deputy Editor, Tumor Microenvironment Section, Cancer Research
2009-2012 – Co-leader, Program in Cancer Immunity and Microenvironment, UCSF
2009-2012 – Deputy Editor, Breaking Advances, Cancer Research
2013-present – Senior Editor, General, Cancer Immunology Research
2012-present – Co-leader, Program in Cancer Biology, Knight Cancer Institute, OHSU
2017-present – Scientific Consultant, Antibody development, Cell Signaling Technologies
- American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Gertrude B. Elion Award (2001)
- AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship (2012)
- 13th Rosalind E. Franklin Award from the National Cancer Institute (2015)
- Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina (2018)
- 2th AACR-Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship (2018)
- Career Award from the European Academy of Tumor Immunology (2018)
- 2018 Susan G. Komen Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction in Basic Science,
- Elected as Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS; 2018)
- Fellow of the AACR Academy (2019)
Coussens Lab
Sushil Kumar, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Education: Ph.D., Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Munich, Germany, 2007
Postdoctoral training: Institute of Molecular Cancer Research, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 2008 - 2011; Oregon Health & Science University 2012 - 2014
Scientific interests: My scientific interests are to understand the molecular basis of tumor related inflammation and translation of this knowledge into modern cancer therapy.
Courtney Betts, Ph.D.
Affiliate Assistant Professor
Education: Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology, Oregon Health & Science University; M.S. in cell biology and cancer research, Albany Medical College (2010); B.S. in biology, Hobart and William Smith Colleges (2007)
Scientific interests: Monitoring immune contexture of human cancers to advance the development and efficacy of immunotherapy.
Takahiro Tsujikawa, M.D., Ph.D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Education: M.D., Ph.D., Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan, 2013
Scientific interests: My research focus has been the cancer-microenvironment interactions for cancer development. My long-term goal is to develop therapeutic strategies targeting the immunological tumor microenvironment in head and neck cancer.
Honors and Awards: Recipient of the 2019 best young physician scientists in Japan, by the Otorhinolaryngological Society of Japan.
Nicky Beelen
Visiting Ph.D. Student
Education: PhD student, Maastricht University, The Netherlands; M.S. in Biomedical Sciences, Maastricht University; B.S. in Health Sciences, Maastricht University.
Scientific interest: To better understand the communication between cancer cells and the environment, specifically with natural killer cells, and to apply this knowledge to improve immunotherapy
Eric Berens, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Scholar
Education: Postdoc at the University of California - San Francisco (with Zena Werb, 2018-2020); Ph.D. in Tumor Biology, Georgetown University (2018), M.S. in Integrated Biosciences, University of Minnesota (2012); B.A. in Biology, St. Olaf College (2008)
Scientific Interests: Anything and everything related to tumor metastasis. Most recently, I'm intrigued by the phenomenon of breast cancer cells acquiring specific immune surface markers when they disseminate. My research is addressing the extent to which metastasis shares parallels with the physiologic trafficking of immune cells.
Konjit Betre, B.S.
Research Assistant 2
Education: B.S. in biochemistry, University of Minnesota, December 2006, B.S. in in genetics, cell biology and development, University of Minnesota, May 2002
Scientific interests: Immunotherapeutic treatments of cancer and identifying new biomarkers that could potentially improve cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment.
Eivind Valen Egelan, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Scholar
Education: Ph.D., Department of Tumor Biology, Oslo University Hospital, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, 2016
Scientific interests: I am interested in how macrophages and cancer cells communicate, and how this contributes to tumor progression.
Elaine Huang, M.S.
Lab Manager
Education: MS, Immunology, University of Pennsylvania (2005); BS, Microbiology, University of Michigan (2002).
Scientific Interests: Immunology, cancer biology, mouse models of human disease.
Sokchea Khou, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Scholar
Nell Kirchberger, B.A.
Research Assistant 2
Education: B.A., Biology, NYU, 2019, minors in Chemistry and Bioethics.
Scientific Interests: My research interests involve how cancer metabolism shapes the tumor microenvironment, particularly its effect on immune cells, and how these interactions can provide insight into drug responsiveness.
Amanda Poissonnier, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Education: Ph.D., French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, Rennes, France. 2017
Scientific interests: I’m interested in many aspects of cancer biology, especially the complex relationship between immunity and tumor pathogenesis. It is a key point to understand why inflammation can be a hallmark of cancer progression and how we can foster anti-tumor responses by modulating the tumor microenvironment. My work is focused on new combination therapies in order to improve efficacy of chemotherapy treatments for TNBC patients.
Sam Sivagnanam, M.S.
Research Associate, Computational Biology
Education: M.S. in bioinformatics and genomics, University of Oregon (2016); molecular bioscience, University of Kansas (2007).
Scientific interests: Fascinated by cancer biology, I aim to provide quantitative analysis, and develop automated image analysis pipelines for predictive models and biomarker discovery in cancer using biology, art and code to extract meaning from biological images.
Teresa Beechwood, B.S.
Gina Choe, B.S.
Tiziana Cotechini, Ph.D.
Femke Ehlers, M.S.
Patrick Flynn, B.S.
Charlie Gast, Ph.D.
Cecil Gomes, Ph.D.
Huanhuan (Mahsa) He, Ph.D.
Wes Horton, M.S.
Rie Kawashima D.D.S., Ph.D.
Will Larson, B.S.
Kenna Leis, B.S.
Elaine Lin, M.D., Ph.D.
Shannon Liudahl, Ph.D.
Lauren Maloney, B.S.
Zenette McCoy, B.S.
Terry Medler, Ph.D.
Padraic Robinson, B.S.
Brian Ruffell, Ph.D.
Justin Tibbitts, M.S., M.B.A.
University of Minnesota
Jennifer Wherley, M.D., M.S.
Jacklyn Woods, Ph.D.
Dhaarini Murugan, Ph.D.
Meghan Sul-Kyung Lavoie, B.S.
Giovanney Gonzalez, B.S.
Christian Huisman, Ph.D.
Ana Howells-Ferreira, M.S.
Michael McCane, B.S.
