Industry Connections: Foundation Research Program Management

The 2014 Industry Connections series will focus on perspectives from Ph.D.s working in industry and how they successfully transitioned to these positions.

The speaker will give a short presentation and then open the topic up for Q & A. Please be willing to participate in the discussion. This event is limited to 20 postdocs and a light lunch will be provided.

This month will feature Krissa Smith, PhD, Research Program Manager for Susan G. Komen.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Krissa Smith joined Susan G. Komen® in 2011 and is based in San Diego, California. As part of the Research Programs team, she manages the Komen national Application and Review process as Research Program Manager. Dr. Smith also manages a diverse portfolio of awarded national grants and is a project lead on the Komen Scholar Science Lecture Series that is directed at educating patient advocates on important research topics in breast cancer. She presents the annual Grant Tips and Tricks presentation at SABCS and actively participates in Komen San Diego Affiliate events to bring the research community and the Komen Affiliate community together.

Dr. Smith completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute evaluating vascular deficiencies and macrophage polarization in mouse mammary tumors. She received her doctorate in Tumor Biology from Georgetown University in 2008, where she studied growth factors in both mouse mammary tumor models and in chick development models with Dr. Anton Wellstein. She demonstrated that fibroblast growth factor binding proteins (FGFBPs) increase tumorigenesis and progression in mouse tumor models and over expression of FGFBP in adult mouse mammary glands drastically induced mammary epithelial apoptosis. Her areas of expertise include angiogenesis, mammary gland development and breast cancer biology. Her work has been published in various peer reviewed journals.