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Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology

The first Southeastern Brain Tumor Research Meeting will be held May 9-10, 2019 at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel adjacent to the UAB Medical Center.  Presentations will begin at approximately 10 am on May 9th and end no later than 3pm on May 10th.  A poster session will be held on the evening of May 9th. Speakers will be invited or chosen from submitted abstracts.  Mentor and trainee pairs will be prioritized for oral presentations. 

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Duane Mitchell, Director of the University of Florida Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program, and Co-Director of the Preston A. Wells Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy, Professor of Neurosurgery.   

Although the meeting schedule is still being established, additional speakers include:

  • Dr. Dolores Hambardzumyan, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University and a to be named graduate student.
  • Dr. Anita Hjelmeland, Associate Professor of Cell, Developmental, and Integrative Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and her graduate student, Ms. Catherine Libby.
  • Dr. William Placzek, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and his graduate student,  Mr. Robert Whitaker. 
  • Dr. Rene Read, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at Emory University and her post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Nathaniel Boyd. 
  • Dr. Harald Sontheimer, Executive Director of the Virginia Tech School of Neuroscience, Director of the Glial Biology in Health, Research, and Cancer Center, and Chair and Professor of Neuroscience and his graduate student, Ms. Emily Thompson.
  • Dr. Christopher Willey, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and his MSTP student, Mr. Nicholas Eustace.