Dr. Kerns is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her research focuses on discovery and characterization of inherited genetic variants and other host factors that predispose patients to development of late adverse effects from radiotherapy used for cancer treatment. The goal of this work is to develop a validated genetic risk score that is predictive of normal tissue toxicity and could be incorporated into treatment planning to better personalize care. Discovery of genetic and other host factors can also point to novel radiobiologic mechanisms that might be targeted for development of new radioprotective or mitigating interventions. Such interventions could then be selectively used in patients predicted to be at high risk for adverse radiotherapy effects, due to their genetic background, who would benefit most from their use. This work is accomplished through discovery-based genome-wide association studies of late toxicity in clinical radiotherapy cohorts from the NCI-supported Radiogenomics Consortium, of which Dr. Kerns is a lead investigator, as well as collaborative preclinical murine models.
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