Meet Our Team
Brianne O'Leary, PhD
Research Specialist
Phone: (319) 335-8987
Email: brianne-oleary@uiowa.edu
Brianne O'Leary earned her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Tampa and her PhD in biochemistry from the University of South Florida. She started in the Mezhir lab as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and has continued in the lab as a Research Specialist. Brianne's research currently focuses on the role EcSOD in pancreatic cancer and liver metastasis.
Jennifer Hrabe, MD
Surgical Resident
Email: jennifer-hrabe@uiowa.edu
Jennifer Hrabe is a general surgery resident at the university with an interest in colorectal surgery. Her research emphasis has been on colorectal cancer, and she has also been involved in studying factors influencing pancreatic cancer metastases with Dr. Mezhir. Her work in Dr. Mezhir's lab has included characterizing novel cell lines and helping create a murine model of inducing hepatic metastases.
Bradley McDowell, PhD
Director, Population Research Core (PopRC), Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center
Email: bradley-mcdowell@uiowa.edu
Brad McDowell is the director of the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Population Research Core (PopRC). The PopRC assists cancer researchers by facilitating access to large population databases such as the NCI Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data set. Dr. McDowell has worked with researchers on studies of descriptive epidemiology, analysis of treatment patterns, and comparative effectiveness research.
Cheryl Roe
Translational Research Coordinator
Email: cheryl-roe@uiowa.edu
Cheryl graduated from the University of Iowa in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology. She has been involved in research for the past 11 years. In her current position as research coordinator for the BEST Registry and Tissue Repository, Cheryl enrolls subjects, abstracts clinical information related to surgery, treatment and cancer staging as well as coordinates the collection of, processing, and storage of blood and tissue samples obtained from consented participants. She also manages regulatory needs with Hawk IRB and is instrumental in processing investigator tissue sample request and distribution.
Carmen Tillman
Program Coordinator
Email: carmen-tillman@uiowa.edu
Carmen graduated from the University of Iowa in 2005 and has been working full time for the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics since that time. She is currently the Tumor Board Coordinator where she gather the information for tumor boards and documents plans and staging for the medical record.