Rosa F. Hwang

Dr. Hwang co-founded Stellanova and brings her expertise in the fields of surgical oncology, breast and pancreatic cancer, and translational research on the tumor microenvironment. She is currently a tenured Professor and surgeon-scientist with a joint appointment in the Departments of Breast Surgical Oncology and Surgical Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. She is also the Associate Medical Director for Surgery at the Nellie B. Connally Breast Center at MD Anderson. Her lab is focused on the role of cancer-associated fibroblasts in tumorigenesis and resistance to therapy and first identified DKK3 as a promising therapeutic target in pancreatic cancer. The anti-DKK3 antibody clones were developed in Dr. Hwang’s lab and have been licensed to Stellanova for drug development targeting cancer and its surrounding microenvironment. She holds an M.D. from the University of Maryland, completed surgery residency at the University of Southern California (USC Keck School of Medicine), clinical fellowship in Surgical Oncology at MD Anderson and a postdoctoral research fellowship in Cancer Biology with Dr. Isaiah J. Fidler at MD Anderson.