Associate Professor of Pathology

Department: Pathology

Phone: (804) 828-8710

Fax: (804) 828-9749

Email: Joshua.Harrell@vcuhealth.org

Chuck Harrell, PhD, Associate Professor, is a faculty member in the Department of Pathology since May 2015. Dr. Harrell earned his Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from North Carolina State University and performed research that focused on estrogen receptor biology at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences under the guidance of Dr. Kenneth Korach. Dr. Harrell received his PhD degree in Cell and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado, mentored by Dr. Kathryn Horwitz. His PhD thesis focused on developing and testing models of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer metastasis. Post-doctoral training with Charles Perou at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill focused on bioinformatics-based approaches to stratify genomic mediators of basal-like, HER2-enriched, and luminal breast cancer metastasis. Dr. Harrell’s research program utilizes in vitro, in vivo, and in silico models to identify drug-resistance mechanisms and then targeting them in the metastatic setting to improve outcomes.

Projects incorporate patient-derived xenografts for proteogenomic analyses. Current studies are 1) utilizing patient-derived-xenograft models to identify genetic drivers of metastasis, 2) contrasting how individual patient genomic profiles correspond with targeted drug response at the single-cell level, 3) determining pharmacological approaches to overcome chemotherapeutic resistance, and 4) defining genetic ancestry contributions towards drug efficacy.

Dr. Harrell’s lab has been funded by the Department of Defense, Expedition Inspiration, the Jeffress Trust, National Cancer Institute, METAvivor, and Susan G. Komen. His peer-reviewed publications primarily focus on breast cancer metastasis and the use of synergistic drug combinations to identify novel treatments.

Research interests: Cancer genomics, proteomics, metastasis, patient-derived breast cancer xenograft models, targeted therapeutics

Harrell Lab

 Dr. Harrell Web CV(pdf)

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