Sarah Gitto, PhD

Dr. Sarah Gitto is an Instructor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Division of Diagnostic Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research laboratory focuses on immune modulating and molecular therapeutic strategies for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Her work further utilizes novel imaging modalities to predict and monitor treatment efficacy and outcomes. Dr. Gitto holds four degrees from the University of Central Florida (UCF) – BS in microbiology and Molecular Microbiology, BS in Health Sciences, MS in Biomedical Sciences, and PhD in Biomedical Sciences. Her graduate research focused on the role of the tumor microenvironment of pancreatic cancer onset and progression and NK cell-based therapies for the treatment of ovarian cancer. She was recognized for her graduate research through numerous institutional awards most notably, induction into the Order of the Pegasus and UCF Alumni 30 under 30. Dr. Gitto completed her post-doctoral research under the mentorship of Dr. Daniel J. Powell at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and earned an MS in Translational Research from UPenn. As a postdoctoral researcher she developed a novel autologous humanized preclinical platform for evaluating immunotherapies for the treatment of ovarian cancer, which has been the cornerstone of her ongoing research. Her research has been funded by the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer, and the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award.