Rate My Professor Leanne Woods-Burnham

Leanne Woods-Burnham, Ph.D., serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Physiology from Loma Linda University School of Medicine, a Bachelor of Science in Biology from The University of Akron, and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Prostate Cancer at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her academic training and research experience at Loma Linda University and City of Hope have equipped her with expertise in translational prostate cancer research. Dr. Woods-Burnham's laboratory investigates biological determinants of prostate cancer tumor aggressiveness and worse survival outcomes in Black men, with a focus on the effects of HER2/ERBB2 overexpression on cellular function, clinical features in patients, treatment response, and survival outcomes. She seeks to identify genetic variations and multiomic signatures associated with HER2/ERBB2 amplification and overexpression. These projects, aimed at developing precision medicine therapeutic strategies to improve survival in incurable disease stages and reduce lethal prostate cancer, are funded by the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program, Prostate Cancer Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Georgia CTSA.

Dr. Woods-Burnham has earned prestigious awards, including the 2021 NIH Health Disparities Research LRP Award, 2020 Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program Early Investigator Award, 2020 Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award, 2020 The Cancer Health 25: Black Lives Matter recognition, 2020 Faces of Cell by Cell Press, and 2019 Endocrine Society FLARE Fellow. Her key publications include 'Genetic contributions to prostate cancer disparities in men of West African descent' (Frontiers in Oncology, 2021), 'The role of diverse populations in U.S. clinical trials' (Med, 2021), 'Psychosocial stress, glucocorticoid signaling, and prostate cancer health disparities in African American men' (Cancer Health Disparities, 2020), 'Glucocorticoids upregulate stress oncoproteins associated with therapy-resistance in African American and European American prostate cancer cells' (Scientific Reports, 2018), and 'Physician consultations, prostate cancer knowledge, and PSA screening of African American men in the Era of Shared Decision-Making' (American Journal of Men's Health, 2018). Through initiatives like the Prostate Cancer Precision Prevention Program, her work promotes health equity by advocating for tailored screening guidelines for Black men.