Lalita Shevde-Samant, Ph.D., associate professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology and scientist at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been elected a member of the Chemo/Dietary Prevention Study Section for the Center for Scientific Review of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Shevde-Samant was selected on the basis of her demonstrated competence and achievement in her scientific discipline.
In her new role, she has the unique opportunity to contribute to the national biomedical research effort. She will review grant applications submitted to the NCI, make recommendations and survey the status of research in applicants’ fields of science.
Shevde-Samant’s research at UAB focuses on defining mechanisms that regulate tumor progression and metastasis, applying this knowledge to complement and extend current clinical applications and provide additional therapeutic strategies. She studies the microenvironment surrounding cancer cells as an active participant in regulating tumor-cell behavior.
Shevde-Samant graduated from the Cancer Research Institute, University of Mumbai, India, completed her postdoctoral training at the Hershey Medical Center, Penn State University, and was a junior faculty member at UAB, examining the area of metastasis suppressors. Before rejoining UAB in 2012, she was a faculty member at the Mitchell Cancer Institute at the University of South Alabama.