Dr. Constance Li

• Cancer genomics

Cancer is a heterogenous disease with differential characteristics in different groups of people. For example, cancer varies profoundly by sex. The differential cancer burden between male and female patients has been described in incidence, prevalence, and mortality rates in myriad non-sex-specific cancers throughout multiple regions of the world. Studies motivated by these epidemiological sex disparities in cancer describe corresponding differences in its clinical characteristics, treatment response, and widespread molecular differences including epigenetic changes, altered transcriptomic programs, and genomic mutations. Similar differences exist in other group characteristics such as age. I am interested in exploring the genomic associations of cancer disparities, their relationships with factors such as the tumour microenvironment, and in leveraging this understanding to improve biomarker design.