Syed A. Ahmad, MD

Interim Director, University of Cincinnati Cancer Center; The Hayden Family Endowed Chair for Cancer Research

Syed Ahmad, MD, Interim Director, is responsible for the research and academic components of our cancer efforts. A nationally recognized leader in oncologic surgery for pancreas and hepatobiliary cancers, Dr. Ahmad’s research interests include gastrointestinal and pancreaticobiliary malignancies, pancreatitis, islet cell transplantation, and novel translational research for GI malignancies. Dr. Ahmad currently serves as the Principal Investigator on two NCI-designated cooperative studies. He is the co-PI on several NCI-funded research grants and has published over 200 articles and chapters. He also serves as a reviewer for 15 prestigious clinical and research journals.

Daniel Starczynowski, PhD

Associate Director for Basic Science Research

Daniel Starczynowski, PhD, is the associate director for basic science research at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center. With an emphasis on Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), his laboratory investigates the molecular and cellular basis of hematologic malignancies to advance novel therapeutic strategies.

Davendra Sohal, MD, MPH

Associate Director of Clinical Research

Davendra Sohal, MD, MPH, is the associate director for clinical research at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center. Dr. Sohal joined the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center in 2019 with a focus on gastrointestinal cancer research and experimental therapeutics. He is currently leading several national clinical trials as well as trials developed right here in Cincinnati to investigate new cancer drugs, including immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and cellular therapies.

Leeya Pinder, MD, MPH

Interim Associate Director for Cancer Prevention, Control & Population Science Research

Leeya Pinder, MD, MPH is the interim associate director for cancer prevention, control, and population science research at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center. In addition to her Cancer Center role, Dr. Pinder is a gynecologic oncologist, global health clinician, and international researcher who is dedicated to improving the health of women worldwide.

Pier Paolo Scaglioni, MD

Associate Director for Translational Research

Pier Paolo Scaglioni, MD, is the associate director for translational research at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center. He is a physician-scientist focusing his clinical practice on acute leukemia and stem cell transplant and acute leukemia. regulate the metabolism of cancer cells with an emphasis on lipid metabolism and ferroptosis. His lab has identified several therapeutic targets and provided the rationale for clinical trials testing new cancer drugs. Dr. Scaglioni is also currently working to build integrated scientific programs between the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s to create a pipeline from basic science discoveries to patients.

Melinda Butsch Kovacic, MPH, PhD

Associate Director for Community Outreach & Engagement (COE)

Melinda Butsch Kovacic, MPH, PhD, is the associate director for community outreach & engagement at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center. Her research has primarily focused on epidemiologic approaches to identify genetic, infectious, environmental, and molecular biomarkers of childhood asthma and cancer using human biospecimens and clinical data. Dr. Butsch Kovacic also focuses on expanding community partnerships using community-based participatory research (CBPR) to co-create materials that improve community members’ health literacy and engage them in citizen science.

Susan Waltz, PhD

Associate Director for Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC)

Susan Waltz, PhD, is the associate director for Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC) at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center. Dr. Waltz focuses on identifying education and professional development opportunities for aspiring young scientists, cancer researchers, and clinical care specialists. Her research has primarily focused on RON Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Signaling and breast and prostate cancers.

Steven D. Kniffley, PsyD, MPA, MBA

Associate Director for Cancer Research Development & Faculty Affairs

Steven D. Kniffley Jr., PsyD, MPA, MBA, is a nationally renowned racial trauma scholar and clinician. Dr. Kniffley is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience and serves as the Director for Faculty Development and Special Initiatives for the University of Cincinnati Faculty Enrichment Center. Throughout his career, Dr. Kniffley has secured over $1.5 million in funding for the development and implementation of innovative, evidence-based treatments for trauma in underserved populations, graduate student research and increased access to clinical care. Dr. Kniffley also serves as an organizational consultant, has written numerous books, book chapters and articles on Black male mental health, Black males and the criminal justice system, racial trauma treatment and training, program evaluation, organizational development and academic achievement.

Ken Greis, PhD

Associate Director for Shared Resources

Ken Greis, PhD, is the associate director for shared resources at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center. His research focuses on technology development and the application of mass spectrometry to understand biochemical and biomedical systems where he has also developed significant expertise in project management. He has a passion for developing and managing technology to help researchers solve challenging questions and thus collaborates in various research areas including cancer.

Tammy Mentzel

Associate Director for Administration, Executive Director of Business Administration

Tammy Mentzel, MPH, has been selected to lead the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center's administrative core as Executive Director for Center Administration. She will also serve as Associate Director for Administration within the Cancer Center's research structure, reporting directly to Syed Ahmad, MD, and William Barrett, MD, co-directors of the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center. Tammy’s focus is to build an effective, NCI-compliant cancer center administrative team to enhance cancer research, eliminate health disparities, and achieve future NCI designation for the benefit of the community and patients served in the tristate region and beyond.

mentzetk@ucmail.uc.edu

Senu Apewokin, MD

Program Lead, Cancer Risk Factors, Prevention and Surveillance

Senu Apewokin, MD, is program lead for population science research at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center and serves as Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of Transplant Infectious Diseases at the University of Cincinnati. His work focuses on infectious diseases affecting immunocompromised populations, including individuals with HIV/AIDS and patients undergoing blood and marrow or solid organ transplantation. Dr. Apewokin’s research integrates clinical and population-based approaches to study infection risk, immune response, and microbiome–host interactions in cancer and transplant settings, with the goal of informing strategies to improve supportive care and clinical outcomes.

apewoksu@ucmail.uc.edu

Maria Czyzyk-Krzeska, MD, PhD

Program Lead, Signaling Networks & Metabolic Pathways

Maria Czyzyk-Krzeska, MD, PhD, is program lead for Signaling Networks & Metabolic Pathways research at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, where her laboratory studies the molecular and metabolic drivers of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the most common form of kidney cancer. Her research focuses on how tumor suppressor loss, metabolic reprogramming, and cellular stress pathways contribute to disease progression, with particular interest in the roles of copper metabolism, autophagy, and tumor subtypes shaped by genomic and environmental factors. Dr. Czyzyk-Krzeska’s work is supported by multiple NIH and VA awards, and she also serves as co-principal investigator on the Cancer Center’s ACS Institutional Research Grant, which provides pilot funding for new investigators.

czyzykm@ucmail.cu.edu

Andrew Waters, PhD

Program Lead, Experimental Therapeutics

Andrew Waters is an Assistant Professor in Surgical Oncology and Cancer Biology. He performed his PhD research at the NCI-designated RAS Initiative at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research in Frederick, MD under the mentorship of Dr. James Hartley, where he investigated the role of cancer-occurring silent mutations in KRAS to alter protein expression and drive tumorigenic phenotypes. He performed his postdoctoral research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under the guidance of Dr. Channing Der, where he researched synthetic lethal targets of mutant KRAS in pancreatic cancer, where he was the recipient of an American Cancer Society postdoctoral award. Currently, his lab is focused on understanding resistance mechanisms that will occur to direct KRAS inhibition in pancreatic cancer. Dr. Waters received a perfect score on a NCI K22 award related to this research. In addition to the National Cancer Institute, his lab has been supported by an American Cancer Center Institutional Research Grant, a UCCC Pilot Program Grant, and the FCSP Foundation. He has several publications in impactful journals, including Nature, Nature Medicine, Cancer Research, Cancer Discovery, Cell Reports, and Science Signaling, among others.

watersa3@ucmail.uc.edu

Courtney Jones, PhD

Program Lead, Pediatric Oncology

Courtney Jones, PhD, develops new therapeutic strategies to target leukemia cells with the overall objective of improving the lives of patients with leukemia. Her laboratory studies leukemia stem cells (LSCs), a treatment-resistant cell population that drives disease relapse, and investigates the unique metabolic dependencies that make these cells vulnerable to targeted therapies. Dr. Jones’s work has identified novel, pharmacologically actionable metabolic pathways in LSCs and demonstrated that metabolic vulnerabilities change over the course of disease, informing stage-specific treatment strategies. These discoveries have contributed to the development of metabolism-based clinical trials aimed at improving long-term outcomes for patients with AML.

courtney.jones@cchmc.org

Amar Natarajan, PhD

Senior Advisor and Professor and Endowed Chair of Medicinal Chemistry

Amar Natarajan, PhD, joined the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center in 2025 and brings >20 years of experience in cancer drug discovery and development. His lab is focused on developing reversible inhibitors, covalent binders, and heterobifunctional compounds (aka PROTACs and RIPTACs) against therapeutic targets implicated in cancer and other proliferative disorders.

William L. Barrett, MD

Senior Advisor and Chair, Radiation Oncology

William Barrett, MD, co-director, leads adult oncology patient care activities for the Cancer Center. Dr. Barrett has been a faculty member at the University of Cincinnati since 1992 and has experience treating most types of cancer. His research interests include radiation oncology, oncology, head & neck cancer, prostate cancer, sarcoma, and brachytherapy. With a passion for cancer education – for both the community and physicians – he has organized several educational conferences and is very involved in medical student and resident education at the University of Cincinnati.

Emily Curran, MD

Senior Advisor and Medical Director, Clinical Trials Office

Emily Curran, MD, is a senior advisor for the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center and serves as medical director of the Clinical Trials Office. Dr. Curran's clinical interest focuses on caring for patients with hematologic malignancies, particularly acute leukemia. Following her residency and fellowship, Dr. Curran completed additional training in clinical pharmacology and pharmacogenomics. Dr. Curran is the principal investigator for numerous early-phase clinical trials in acute leukemia and hematologic malignancies. Her research investigates novel approaches to improve outcomes for patients with acute leukemia through both translational studies and clinical trial approaches.

Jordan Kharofa, MD

Senior Advisor and Chair of the Protocol Review and Monitoring System

Jordan Kharofa, MD, is a senior advisor at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center and a recognized expert in radiation oncology, with a focus on gastrointestinal cancers, proton therapy, and head and neck cancers. Dr. Kharofa leads innovative clinical studies, including trials exploring the use of advanced radiation techniques like intensity-modulated proton therapy to improve outcomes for patients with pancreatic and gastrointestinal cancers.

Michael V. Knopp, MD, PhD

Senior Advisor and Endowed Chair of Radiologic Sciences

Michael V. Knopp, MD, PhD, joined the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center in 2023, bringing with him 30-plus years of experience, more than two dozen members of his research team, an ongoing affiliation with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and experience at the German National Cancer Institute (DFKZ). He also brought to Cincinnati the prestigious Wright Center of Innovation in Biomedical Imaging and Digital Health and his leadership role at the NCI’s Imaging and Radiation Oncology Core (IROC), along with more than $2 million in NCI grant funding per year.

Michael A. Lieberman, PhD

Senior Advisor and Chair, Cancer Biology

Michael Lieberman, PhD, senior advisor for the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, focuses his research on analysis of megakaryocyte differentiation using cultured mammalian cells as a model system. Dr. Lieberman also researches the introduction of dominant negative mutations of proteins known to be important in signal transduction.

John P. Perentesis, MD

Senior Advisor and Co-Executive Director, Cincinnati Children’s Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute

John P. Perentesis, MD, senior advisor at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, is a nationally recognized expert in the development of new drugs and molecular therapies for pediatric and young adult cancers and leukemia. His laboratory has developed novel anticancer drugs and discovered genes important in the growth of normal and malignant cells. His laboratory is also using tumor patients’ genomics research to personalize therapies. Dr. Perentesis serves in key roles for the National Cancer Institute’s Investigational Drug Steering Committee and the NCI-funded Children’s Oncology Group (COG) – the world's largest children's cancer research entity.

Winston Stellner, MBA

Senior Advisor and Vice President, Cancer Service Line

Winston Stellner leads the cancer service line strategy, operations, and programmatic growth for UC Health, the Cancer Center’s adult academic health system. With over 30 years of experience as a healthcare leader—23 of those years at the Mayo Clinic—Winston has a proven track record of providing administrative leadership to drive collaboration and alignment in complex, multidisciplinary academic medical centers.

Yi Zheng, PhD

Senior Advisor and Co-Executive Director, Cincinnati Children’s Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute

Yi Zheng, PhD, senior advisor at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, runs a lab at Cincinnati Children’s that works to understand the molecular mechanism and the physiological impact of signal transduction processes involving Rho GTPases, their regulators, and effector targets with the ultimate goal being to develop novel therapeutic reagents that interfere with specific Rho signaling pathways related to human pathological conditions including cancer, inflammation, aging, and hemopathies.