Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee at the American Thyroid Association (ATA)

2018 Van Meter Award "Drug resistance and iodine metabolism in BRAFV600E thyroid cancer” to Carmelo Nucera, MD, PhD

The Van Meter Award recognizes outstanding contributions to research on the thyroid gland or related subjects by an investigator who is age 45 or under. Dr. Nucera has given the prestigious Van Meter Lecture on October 4 at 8:05 am, during this year’s ATA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC from October 3 to 7 2018. The award winner and the title of his lecture are kept secret until the time of the presentation

"Human Thyroid Cancers Preclinical and Translational Research Program" is open to accept medical students, PhD students, experienced basic researcher, as well as international PhD students, in order to be mentored from me on different advanced research projects on human thyroid cancers and BRAFV600E.

Young and experienced PhD basic researchers, including minorities, are also encouraged to apply to be mentored in angiogenesis/inflammation and therapeutics program related to thyroid diseases.

I'm an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School in the field of Thyroid Cancer, and I was recently awarded from the American Thyroid Association and from the NIH/NCI for Thyroid Cancer Research and BRAFV600E.
I'm developing my own independent research program in the Center for Vascular Biology and Biomedical Research (CVBR) at the BIDMC/HMS, focused on "preclinical models of human thyroid cancer with an emphasis on mechanisms of metastatic networks, new models of in vitro angiogenesis, tumor microenvironment, and metabolic regulations, using and dissecting new targeted therapies anti-BRAFV600E (e.g. Vemurafenib/PLX4032, Sorafenib, etc.)".
In particular, my research interests are in elucidating mechanisms by which the oncogene BRAFV600E leads to the invasive behavior in aggressive, metastatic, and iodine-refractory thyroid cancers.
I'm highly committed to applying my research to patient care, to facilitate innovation to solve unmet clinical needs, and improve public health.

I'm genuinely dedicated to advancing translational Thyroid Cancer Research.