Congratulations to Rachel Perkins, assistant professor in the department of pathology at the The University of Tennessee Health Science Center and UT-ORII’s Radiopharmaceutical Therapies Convergent Research Initiative, for receiving the American Association for Cancer Research’s (AACR) Faculty Scholar Award in the field of Cancer Research!
This award will fund Perkins’ participation in the AACR 2026 Annual Meeting, where she will present a poster on how ovarian cancer stem cells exploit isoform diversity to sustain stemness and drive therapy resistance, revealing therapeutic vulnerabilities. This award is intended to increase faculty members’ scientific knowledge base, encourage their research, and help them inspire their students to pursue careers in cancer research.
As an expert in molecular biology and cancer stem cells, in 2024, she established the Perkins lab as part of UTORII’s state-funded convergent research initiative to develop and advance the field of alpha radiopharmaceuticals. The Perkins lab focuses on several niche areas, including cancer stem cells, gynecologic cancers, radiotherapy, and more. Research within the lab has made impressive progress, generating preliminary data and assembling a multidisciplinary team to complement Perkins’ strengths in research proposals. Since starting her lab, she has received two research awards, recruited two graduate students, published three papers, and a book chapter.
The Perkins lab, in collaboration with the expertise of investigators from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, strives to promote the advancement of targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy research and development.
