Andreana Holowatyj, PhD, MSCI, assistant professor of Medicine, has been named to the 40 Under 40 In Cancer Class of 2025 by the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.

This year’s class was selected from more than 3,000 nominations. The awards initiative identifies and recognizes contributions across the field of cancer by rising stars and emerging leaders under the age of 40. 

Holowatyj’s research is focused on early-onset cancers, including colorectal and appendiceal cancers. She has received the National Cancer Institute’s Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award to support her ongoing investigation into how early-onset colorectal cancer and its treatments impact reproductive health. MERIT Awards provide longer-term funding than is typical for most grants to early-stage investigators whose research competence and productivity are distinctly superior and who are highly likely to continue to perform in an outstanding manner. As part of this Award, Holowatyj established and leads the Preserving Fertility After Colorectal Cancer (PREFACE) clinical study, which is currently recruiting patients.  

She is focused on providing evidence-based guidance that will ultimately improve clinical care and outcomes for individuals ages 18 to 49 when diagnosed with cancer. Holowatyj and her team discovered that 1 in 2 young cancer patients report that a health care provider involved in their cancer care did not discuss options to preserve fertility prior to starting cancer treatment. 

Her research has been published in high-impact medical research journals and has led to clinical practice changes and revisions to consensus guidelines. She has also been invited to serve on several international committees, including the American Joint Committee on Cancer Lower Gastrointestinal Tract Expert Panel that updates clinical cancer staging systems, the Fight Colorectal Cancer Global Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer Think Tank, and as the inaugural chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Appendix Cancer Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (ACPMP) Research Foundation. This year, with the support of the ACPMP Research Foundation, she led an expert recommendation report in the journal Nature Reviews Cancer that identified six key research priority areas to deliver a fundamental understanding of appendiceal tumors and to improve treatments and outcomes for patients with this rare cancer.

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Kimberly Dahlman, PhD, associate professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology, has been elected to the board of directors of the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE). 

Dahlman, who is the assistant director of Cancer Research Training and Education at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, will begin serving her three-year term upon the closing of the association’s annual conference on June 17. She serves as co-director of the third- and fourth-year undergraduate medical education curriculum at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and as co-director of the Research Education Core of the Meharry-Vanderbilt-Tennessee State University Cancer Partnership.

She is also director of the VERTICAL post-baccalaureate program, the V-EXCEL undergraduate cancer research program and the VISTO medical student research program at Vanderbilt-Ingram. Nationally, she is president of the Association of Biochemistry Educators.  

With more than 2,000 members, the IAMSE’s mission is to advance health profession education through teacher development and to ensure that the teaching and learning of medical science continues to be firmly grounded in foundational sciences and the best practices of teaching. 

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