Dr. Sarah Bateni joined the faculty of the UAB Department of Surgery as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology in October 2022. Her clinical and research interests include: soft tissue malignancies including extremity, and retroperitoneal sarcoma and skin malignancies such as melanoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and advanced basal cell carcinoma. She serves on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network panel for melanoma. She is also a health services and outcomes researcher and focuses on clinical and patient-reported outcomes in patients with advanced cancer.

Current projects include:

• "Feasibility of the evaluation of patient reported outcomes after consideration of palliative surgery in patients with locally advanced or metastatic cancer"

Dr. Kristy Broman is an Assistant Professor in the UAB Division of Surgical Oncology and Member of the UAB Institute for Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship. In addition to her clinical emphasis on skin and soft tissue oncology, she conducts health services and outcomes research, emphasizing implementation strategies for delivery of high-quality care across the cancer care continuum. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, where she earned her Medical Degree and Master of Public Health Degree. She then completed residency in General Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which included a three-year research fellowship in the Veterans Affairs National Quality Scholar Program, a national training program in conduct of health services research, quality improvement, and implementation science.

She has previously studied the role of regional care networks in delivery of surgical care at the population level and developed and studied the implementation of interventions to increase access to surgical care using telemedicine and virtual cancer survivorship clinics. She has also published extensively in her clinical areas of interest, including evaluating adoption and outcomes of nodal surveillance for sentinel lymph node positive melanoma, BRAF/MEK inhibition for advanced melanoma, and loco-regional therapies for recurrent melanoma including T-VEC and regional limb therapies.

Her laboratory currently focuses on three areas of emphasis: 1. Systems-based approach to adoption of oncologic evidence into practice; 2. Evaluation of long term outcomes of nodal surveillance for sentinel lymph node positive melanoma; and 3. Identifying the needs and treatment-associated risk factors of cancer survivors.

Systems-based approach to adoption of oncologic evidence into practice

Her research has demonstrated significant gaps in whether patients with cancer receive evidence-aligned care based on where and by whom they are treated. As most healthcare is now provided within health systems, they are currently studying the system-level factors that contribute to evidence-aligned care using quantitative analysis of large databases and qualitative methods including interviews with stakeholders. Their long-term objective is to use these findings to design, implement, and study system-level interventions to improve quality of cancer care and implementation of oncologic evidence within integrated health systems.

Evaluation of long term outcomes of nodal surveillance for sentinel lymph node positive melanoma

Dr. Broman is part of an international, multi-institution collaborative that conducts studies in large patient cohorts about management of high risk melanoma including sentinel lymph node positive disease. The collaborative addresses research questions that would be difficult to study using clinical trials by combining the clinical experiences of multiple major melanoma centers in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Dr. Broman has led six separate studies with this team.

Identifying the needs and treatment-associated risk factors of cancer survivors.

She also has ongoing studies that evaluate quality of life in melanoma survivors and identify conditions that cancer survivors may be more likely to get such as additional cancers or other health conditions as a result of their cancer treatment. As an example, her team recently completed a landmark study of risk factors for subsequent skin cancers after blood or marrow transplant, which provides guidance to dermatologists about which cancer survivors are at greatest risk for skin cancer.

Current projects include:

• "Long-term outcomes of adjuvant immunotherapy and nodal surveillance in patients with sentinel node positive melanoma: An International Multi-Institutional Protocol"
• "Leveraging Health Systems to Increase Implementation of Evidence-Based Surgical Cancer Care"
• "Surgeon and Surgical Provider Perception of Clinical Utility of Melanoma Nodal Surveillance Ultrasonography"
• "The Comparison of Locoregional Treatment with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors for Melanoma In-Transit Metastases"
• "Quality of Care and Patient Perspectives on Cancer Treatment at Hub Versus Spoke Hospitals of Health Systems"
• "Individuals' Knowledge, Perceptions, and Preferences regarding Location of Cancer Care"
• "The Efficacy of Immunotherapy for In-Transit Metastases of Melanoma - Results from a Multicenter, Real-World Cohort Study"
• "Evaluation of Disparities in Evaluation, Treatment, and Outcomes for Cutaneous Malignancies"
• "The role of affiliated networks of care on dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices in cancer care"

Dr. Angela Carter is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology. Dr. Carter’s current research involves delineating the underlying molecular mechanisms that constitute relationships between microbes and hosts and leveraging those mechanisms toward the treatment of human disease.

Ongoing projects in the lab include: 1) understanding how Fusobacterium nucleatum acts as an enhancer of amphetamine addiction, 2) investigating microbial biofilms as regulators of substance use disorders, 3) exploring the interplay between amphetamines, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and cancer, and 4) engineering synthetic microbes for the production of therapeutic molecules.

Current research includes: 

• "A Novel Class of Microbial-Based Cancer Therapy"
• "Microbial Biofilms as Regulators of Amphetamine Use Disorders"

Dr. Annabelle Fonseca is an Associate Professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She is a surgeon-scientist with a combined clinical and research appointment. With a dual board certification in General Surgery and Complex General Surgical Oncology, she specializes in treating hepato-pancreato-biliary and other foregut malignancies. After completing medical school in India, she pursued a residency in general surgery at Yale University, where she also earned a Master of Health Science (MHS) degree and completed a two-year research fellowship. She subsequently completed a fellowship in Complex General Surgical Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Her research, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense, focuses on improving the quality and delivery of high-quality complex oncologic care for foregut cancers across the cancer care continuum. Through her patient-centered approach, Dr. Fonseca has helped guide numerous patients through their cancer journey while simultaneously advancing research aimed at improving cancer care outcomes.

Current projects include:

• "Improving Shared Decision-making in Pancreatic Cancer"
• "A Patient-Centric Approach to Improving Guideline Concordant Care in Pancreatic Cancer: Using modifiable barriers to identify patients at risk for disparities"

Dr. Rachael Guenter received her B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2017. She received her PhD in Cancer Biology (2021), along with completing her postdoctoral fellowship (2023), at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Currently she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology. Her research includes: (i) the development of novel theragnostic agents for pancreatic cancers, (ii) understanding the role of Notch signaling in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, and (iii) the development a new preclinical models for neuroendocrine tumor research. She is particularly interested in developing new treatments for patients with unresectable, advanced disease. She also advocates to bring awareness to neuroendocrine cancer and aims to provide accurate information for patients and the general public.

Dr. Martin Heslin serves as the Chief Medical and Quality Officer for the UAB Health System and is a Professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology. His research includes both clinical and nonclinical topics. His research interests vary, with topics from surgical outcomes to physician management, but keep a common underlying theme of improving the practice of medicine. Current projects focus on upgrading existing policies, such as physician peer review, and collecting/analyzing meaningful data in patient experience and ongoing physician practice trends.

Dr. Kimberly Kopecky joined the UAB Division of Surgical Oncology in February of 2024. Her areas of interests include peritoneal surface malignancies, HIPEC, gastric cancer, small bowel cancer, advanced colorectal cancer, health services research, and palliative care. Dr. Kopecky serves as a UAB Center of Palliative and Supportive Care (CPSC) Scholar, as well as an Associate Scholar for the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center and Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Education (COERE).

Current projects include:

• "Patient and caregiver expectations and expectation development in the context of high-risk surgery for cancer"
• "Non-choice surgical decision making"
• "Values elicitation strategies used by surgical oncologists"
• "Development of patient-informed pre-operative informational materials"
• "Patient and surgeon regret"

Dr. Sushanth Reddy joined the faculty of the UAB Department of Surgery Division of Surgical Oncology in 2012. In addition to serving as an Associate Professor in the Division, he is an Associate Scientist in the Experimental Therapeutics Program at the UO'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB.

An active clinician and researcher, Dr. Reddy’s focus is hepatopancreatobiliary surgery and the therapy and study of pancreatic cancers.

Current projects inlcude: 

• "Identifying the Socio-ecologic determinants of health that impact the use of digital health care and survivorship amongst cancer patients during the Covid pandemic"
• "Developing an Algorithm for Pancreatic Survivorship Care using Digital Health Technology"
• "The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Cancer Patients"
• "Access and Knowledge of Technology in Alabama"

Dr. J. Bart Rose is an Associate Professor of Surgical Oncology in the Department of Surgery, Section Chief of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Director of the UAB Pancreatobiliary Disease Center, and Leader of our Pancreas Cancer Service Line. His research is focused on identifying biomarkers and mechanisms of cancer development in the liver, pancreas, and bile ducts. His basic/translational science research programs include: (i) understanding new ways to treat neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas and GI tract by targeting the Notch pathway, (ii) investigating novel theragnostic targets in pancreatic, colorectal, and breast cancers, and (iii) identifying molecular drivers of disparate outcomes in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.