About Us

We are a research group at the Genome Center and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine in the UC Davis School of Medicine. We work on cancer and human genetics. Our research efforts are highly collaborative and draw expertise from diverse areas including human genetics, statistical and population genetics, epidemiology, and modern genomics. We have affiliations with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, where we work closely with colleages with interest in genetics, disparities, and precision medicine in minority populations. We currently funded with R01 and U54 grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and from the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine. In the past, we received funding from NCI, from No Stomach for Cancer Foundation, and from the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

We are interested in the identification of genetic variants that cause cancer or increase disease risk, influence disease prognosis or modify cytotoxic drug response. Our approaches are agnostic to the cancer type and currently focus on the genetics and genomics of colorectal, breast, gastric and thyroid cancer. For more details on some of our studies, please see our research page.

Our lab is located in the Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility (GBSF), also known as the Genome Center. Davis is a wonderful city, located in short driving distance to Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, and San Francisco. Davis was awarded Platinum level (highest ranking) Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists, and was ranked 10th among the “Top Brainiest Cities” in 2013. Northern California has a beautiful, temperate climate, creating warmer winters and cooler summers. Forbes.com named Davis top 25 towns to live well in the nation. Learn all about living in Davis here!