Helen Piwnica-Worms, Ph.D.

Dr. Helen Piwnica-Worms is Professor of Experimental Radiation Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Piwnica-Worms has won national and international recognition for her scientific contributions. She was a Damon Runyon Fellow, a Pew Scholar in the biomedical sciences, an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and an established investigator of the American Heart Association. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the AACR Academy. Dr. Piwnica-Worms is an American Cancer Society Research Professor and a member of both the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Science. Dr. Piwnica-Worms research focuses on identifying alterations with functional significance to the development and progression of breast cancer. A major effort is directed towards elucidating the contribution made by heterogeneity (genomic, phenotypic, spatial and compositional) in both the tumor and its microenvironment to cancer progression, metastasis and therapy resistance. Another major interest is in determining how fasting protects the small intestine from high dose radiation with the goal of enabling dose escalation strategies for treating patients with cancer. She received her bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College and a Ph.D. degree in microbiology and immunology from Duke University Medical School. After completing postdoctoral training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, she joined the faculty of Tufts University Medical School, followed by Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. In 1994 she joined the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis where she was the Gerty T. Cori Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology and in 2011 became Chair of the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology. She also served as Associate Director of Basic Science of the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University.