People
Over the years, the Ko Lab has established multiple pipelines and workflows from bed to benchside and back again, ensuring that the best research is done to address key challenges in breast cancer and inequities in research.
Team Members
Dr. Naomi Ko is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine (BUSM) and a medical oncologist at Boston Medical Center (BMC) who has a lifelong passion for social justice. After college, Dr. Ko participated in Teach For America followed by volunteer service at the Berkeley Free Clinic in the Bay Area. She went on to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and School of Public Health to complete her MD MPH with a focus on health outcomes research for vulnerable populations. After internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital she arrived for fellowship in hematology/oncology at BUSM/BMC, which allowed Dr. Ko to conduct research in the context of caring for an underserved population within a large safety net institution. She has sought out meaningful projects that are a culmination of her passion for oncology, service to the underserved, and academic research. Her research has a translational focus that is directed to understanding the health inequities in breast cancer treatment and delivery of evidence-based treatment to vulnerable, racial/ethnic minority women. She is investigating how tumor biology, poverty, communication and treatment influence breast cancer outcomes in diverse breast cancer populations.
Munawwar Abdulla is a general project manager working closely together with Drs. Naomi Ko and Ruben Dries from Boston University to coordinate and amalgamate their ongoing breast cancer disparities work and help establish new translational workflows that will benefit breast cancer patients at BMC. She received her Masters in Physiology and Pharmacology at UNSW Sydney, Australia, where she studied potential neuroprotectants for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. In her spare time, she is involved in building community networks for Uyghur youth and enjoys writing and translating Uyghur literature.
Mason Chiang is a clinical research assistant involved in patient outreach and processing specimens. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry at New York University where he also majored in Chinese language. He previously worked as a research intern at NYU Langone Health, in the department of Neurosurgery, where he studied DBS for Tourette Disorder.
Partners & Collaborators
Massachusetts General Hospital | Boston University |
Dr. Leif Ellison | Dr. Michael Cassidy |
Dr. Steven Isakoff | Dr. Gerald Denis |
Dr. Beverly Moy | Dr. Ruben Dries |
Dr. Erica Warner | Dr. Julie Palmer |
Dr. Darren Roblyer | |
Dana Farber Cancer Institute | Dr. Priscilla Slanetz |
Dr. Rachel Freedman | |
Dr. Erica Mayer |