Cancer Disparities

Dr. Dennis K. Watson has long standing interest and expertise in the areas of cellular and molecular biology, gene discovery, cellular differentiation and molecular oncology. During the initial stages of oncogene discovery, he was among the first to molecularly characterize the viral and cellular myc genes. He was also among the discoverers of the Ets gene family and has been directly responsible for the isolation and characterization of Ets gene products and their role in cellular proliferation, differentiation and etiology of cancer. In addition to continuing to evaluate the role of specific Ets genes in cellular transformation, his laboratory has identified and functionally characterized genes with altered expression during cancer progression. His research program has expertise in using in vitro and in vivo loss of function and gain of function approaches and molecular analyses to examine the functional significance of altered expression and the regulatory networks that such changes control. Recent studies in Dr. Watson's laboratory have explored the role of regulatory circuitry in tumor cell interaction with the microenvironment. Dr. Watson has an extensive track record in educating and providing mentorship to over 25 predoctoral students, 25 postdoctoral trainees, and 12 junior faculty. He has also been a member of the thesis committees for 56 other graduate students and is the leader of the MUSC College of Graduate Studies' Cancer Biology curriculum for predoctoral students. After more than a decade as research program leader for the MUSC-HCC Cancer Genes and Molecular Regulation Program, he was appointed the inaugural Associate Director for Education and Training in 2013. In this role, he chairs the career development committee of the MUSC-HCC K12 program, and works with MUSC-HCC leadership to develop education and training initiatives.