Meet the Team

Meet the Principal Investigator

Baran Sumer portrait

Baran Sumer, M.D.

I am a full-time clinician scientist faculty member in the Department of Otolaryngology. I have extensive experience with transoral resection using transoral laser microsurgery and transoral robotic surgery, having performed hundreds of these minimally invasive procedures for head and neck cancer. In addition to head and neck cancer, we treat a variety of advanced skin cancers in the head and neck region, including squamous and basal cell cancers and melanoma.  I have performed hundreds of resections and reconstructions for these cutaneous malignancies. Some of the primary challenges, during these operations, are delineation of cancer from normal tissues, especially in previously treated areas, and detection and destruction of residual microscopic disease.

Lab Personnel

Qiang Feng, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Education: Ph.D. from National Center for Nanoscience and Technology University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Projects: Barcode nanosensor to digitize biological signals.

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Oreoluwa Onabolu

Research Assistant II

Education: M.S. in Physiology and Biophysics Georgetown University
Projects: Tissue Procurement

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Oreoluwa Onabolu with dark hair and beard wearing a lab coat.

Gang Huang, Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor

Education: Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry University of North Texas
Projects: Theranostic nanomedicine for cancer imaging and therapy

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Raymundo Pantoja, B.A.

Lab Manager

Education: B.A. in Chemistry Columbia University
Projects: Optimization of nanoparticle formulation for applications in cancer immunotherapy

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Animesha Krishnamurthy, M.S.

Graduate Student

Education: M.S. in Biomedical Engineering Case Western Reserve University
Projects: STING activation in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma models

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Maria Tinajera

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Poornima Shaji

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Asha Varghese

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