Imade Williams, PhD

Dr. Imade Williams is a postdoctoral fellow in laboratory of Dr. Richard Carpenter and under the co-mentorship of Dr. Kenneth P. Nephew at Indiana University School of Medicine Bloomington. Dr. Williams earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Russian Language from Vanderbilt University, where she was also an Ingram Fellow and conducted research in the cell and developmental laboratory of Dr. Robert Coffey, Jr. Prior to her doctoral studies, she conducted cancer vaccine research as a postbaccalaureate research education program (PREP) scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Periasamy Selvaraj at Emory University. Dr. Williams then entered the Indiana Biomedical Gateway Program for PhD Studies at Indiana University School of Medicine. She received her Doctorate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, with a minor in Cancer Biology, while investigating pancreatic cancer progression and metastasis in a genetically engineered mouse model in the laboratory of Dr. Murray Korc. For her thesis work, Dr. Williams characterized a novel pancreatic cancer mouse model and demonstrated that differences in copy-number loss of the tumor suppressor TIP30 altered epidermal growth factor receptor protein levels and resulted in organotropic metastasis. Her doctoral training was supported by a research award to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research and a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (Parent F31), both from the National Cancer Institute. In addition, she has received funding from the Lustgarten Foundation, a Yale Ciencia Academy Fellowship, and was a Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Doctoral Scholar.

As a postdoctoral fellow in the Carpenter Lab, Dr. Williams’ research focuses on understanding the transcriptional regulation and relationship of MYC and heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) in ovarian cancer and investigating the response of MYC-HSF1-amplified ovarian cancer to novel therapies. The support of the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance will be instrumental in allowing Dr. Williams to fully investigate the genome-wide and molecular actions of MYC and HSF1 in ovarian cancer and furthering her advancement in her career as a translational cancer researcher. She looks forward to sharing her important findings with the ovarian cancer research community and patients.