Two faculty from the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology have been awarded distinguished professorships by Duke University. Trudy G Oliver, PhD, and G. Greg Wang, PhD, will be honored at the university’s annual distinguished professorship event on May 18.
Distinguished professorships are awarded to faculty who have demonstrated extraordinary scholarship in advancing science and improving human health.
George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor for Research in Pharmacology
Oliver is a professor of pharmacology and cancer biology. She is an internationally recognized cancer biologist whose work has transformed the understanding of small cell lung cancer and lung squamous cell carcinoma. Her research investigates mechanisms of tumor cell fate, lineage plasticity, and drug resistance to uncover vulnerabilities that can be therapeutically targeted. She has developed sophisticated genetically engineered mouse models and patient‑derived models that authentically reflect human tumor development, enabling breakthroughs in tumor initiation, heterogeneity, lineage plasticity, and therapy resistance.
James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology
Wang is a professor of pharmacology and cancer biology. His research focuses on mechanistic understandings of how chemical modifications of chromatin, including DNA methylation and histone modifications, regulate gene expression and cell fate determination during development, and how their deregulations lead to human diseases, notably cancer. He is an internationally recognized leader in chromatin biology and cancer epigenetics who has made transformative discoveries that have reshaped our understanding of fusion oncoproteins and their epigenetic functions in leukemia, prostate cancer, and sarcomas.
Read about all 22 faculty members in the School of Medicine who have been awarded distinguished professorships.