Maihle joins UMMC Cancer Institute

Published on Tuesday, March 26, 2019

By: Cynthia Wall

Dr. Nita Maihle has joined the University of Mississippi Medical Center Cancer Institute as Associate Director for Research.

She will lead the efforts to further develop and enhance the basic research programs and help coordinate research among the CI’s three National Cancer Institute-targeted research programs.

“Nita is an incredible addition to our Center with a rich and diverse background in the basic, translational and population aspects of cancer,” said Dr. John Ruckdeschel, CI director. “Her administrative expertise will greatly facilitate our efforts at attaining NCI designation.”

“I’m delighted to find a number of exceptional investigators here who are also well funded,” Maihle said.

She arrives with a background in building programs and said her focus will be on “building a critical mass” in those fields of research that have the potential to have the greatest impact in our community. 

Maihle came from Augusta University where she was a professor in the departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, OB-GYN, Pathology and Graduate Studies.

She was on faculty at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center where she was the founding director of the Tumor Biology Program and earlier head of the Growth Factors and Cancer Program.  She also served as Associate Director for Basic Research.

At Yale University’s School of Medicine and Comprehensive Cancer Center she served as director of its Female Reproductive Tract Cancers Program. She also is dean of the Department of Defense-sponsored Ovarian Cancer Academy, established to help support early career investigators in the field of ovarian cancer research.

She has held multiple leadership positions on panels for the NCI, the DOD, American Association for Cancer Research and the Gynecologic Oncology Group.

At UMMC, her research will focus on:

• Development of new methods for the early detection of cancer, with an emphasis on women’s cancers, including breast, ovarian and endometrial.  
• Precision oncology: identification of new biomarkers for accurate stratification of patients – so they are treated with the right drug at the right time. 

Maihle holds 10 patents, most related to agents that may be used to detect cancer or treat cancer by targeting biologically relevant pathways.