John Abbott
Melissa B. Davis
Scientific Director, International Center for the Study of Breast Cancer Subtypes
Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine
Contact Information
Department of Surgery (Breast Surgery & Oncology)
420 East 70th Street, Lasdon House 249, Weill Cornell Medicine
New York, NY 10065
Melissa B. Davis
Scientific Director, International Center for the Study of Breast Cancer Subtypes
Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine
Expertise
Social and biological factors in disparate health outcomes for cancer patients; genomics studies using quantified genetic ancestry to characterize causes of higher breast cancer mortality in women of African descent; diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutics for Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) tailored for diverse patient populations; Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines (DARC) and its role in immune and inflammatory responses in cancer progression; TNBC-specific risk in African Americans
Current Research Interest
Intersection of race and ancestry and the influence of immunological differences in tumor biology; differences in tumor immune responses associated with African ancestry and therapeutic implications of these differences; disparities in COVID-19 health outcomes for African Americans; role of DARC in COVID-19 disease progression and mortality
Distinction
Ford Foundation Fellow
National Institutes of Health Award for Health Disparities Research
American Association for Cancer Research Minority Scholar in Research
L’Oréal USA Women of Science Honorable Mention
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Research Mentor
Chair, American Association for Cancer Research Task Force for Inequality in Cancer Research
Selected Publications
Davis, Melissa, Rachel Martini, Lisa Newman, Olivier Elemento, Jason White, et al. “Identification of Distinct Heterogenic Subtypes and Molecular Signatures Associated with African Ancestry in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Using Quantified Genetic Ancestry Models in Admixed Race Populations.” Cancers 12, no. 5 (May 2020): 1220.
Jenkins, Brittany D., Rachel N. Martini, Rupali Hire, Andrea Brown, Briana Bennett, et al. “Atypical Chemokine Receptor 1 (DARC/ACKR1) in Breast Tumors Is Associated with Survival, Circulating Chemokines, Tumor-Infiltrating Immune Cells, and African Ancestry.” Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 28, no. 4 (April 2019): 690-700.