Tom Yankeelov Honored for Transformative Cancer Research

As a professor in the department of biomedical engineering with a joint appointment at the Dell Medical School, Director of Center for Computational Oncology Tom Yankeelov is leading research on the cutting edge of the prediction science for how tumors and the patients fighting them will react to treatment.  

He received the President’s Research Impact Award for this work in April, saying then, “I feel totally undeserving to have received the award given all the incredible work that is done at UT. But, of course, I am extremely grateful to UT for providing our team with the best place in the world to pursue the goal of building a mathematical theory to personalize the treatment of cancer.”

More recently, Yankeelov led a study that is working to tailor predictions of tumor growth and response to breast cancer treatment to the individual patient. This statistical model would be able to assist oncologists as a decision-making tool when doctors and patients make decisions about how to fight cancer.