Cancer center welcomes four new members

The University of Arizona Cancer Center welcomes four new members: Kristin Huntoon, DO, PHD, Anna Morenz, MD, MPH, Kelvin Pond, PhD, and Lisa Rimsza, MD.

Kristin Huntoon, DO, PHD

Kristin Huntoon is a member of the cancer center’s Clinical and Translational Oncology Program. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Arizona. She is a fellowship-trained brain and spine tumor neurosurgeon from MD Anderson Cancer Center and Emory University and studies these tumors in her research laboratory to develop new diagnostics and treatments for these devastating diseases. Huntoon is a grant-funded neurosurgeon-scientist with more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and numerous book chapters. She also serves as co-chair for several committees on the tumor section of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons and is an editor for the Journal of Neurosurgery and World Neurosurgery among other scientific journals.

Anna Morenz, MD, MPH

Anna Morenz is a member of the cancer center’s Cancer Prevention and Control Program. A Tucson native, Anna Morenz holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Dartmouth College. She earned her medical doctorate from Harvard Medical School and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Washington. She completed internal medicine residency and a research fellowship at the University of Washington with a focus on research to inform more equitable primary care delivery and payment reform. She works as an internal medicine primary care physician at Banner University Medical Center, teaches residents and is developing a research program focused on addressing inequities in cancer screening.

Kelvin Pond, PhD

Kelvin Pond is a member of the cancer center’s Cancer Biology Program. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Arizona. He specializes in patient-derived organoid models, epithelial homeostasis, and single-cell kinase dynamics to study colorectal cancer and therapeutic resistance. Pond earned his doctorate in cellular and molecular medicine from the University of Arizona and master’s degree in chemistry from Northern Arizona University. Dr. Pond completed his post-doctoral work at the University of Arizona under cancer center members Andrew Paek, PhD, and Curtis Thorne, PhD. Pond discovered that waves of kinase signaling can drive patterning of patient-derived organoids. He collaborates on multidisciplinary projects involving spatial transcriptomics, nanoparticle delivery, and mechanical control of stem cell fate. His work aims to leverage new technology to address fundamental questions in cancer biology and therapeutic innovation.

Lisa Rimsza, MD

Lisa Rimsza is a member of the cancer center’s Cancer Prevention and Control Program. She is a tenured full professor and chair of the U of A Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the College of Medicine. She earned both her bachelor’s in pharmacy and M.D at the University of Arizona where she completed her residency in anatomic and clinical pathology. She sub-specialized in hematopathology at the University of New Mexico. Her academic career has included faculty appointments at the University of Florida, Mayo Clinic in Arizona, and University of Arizona, Tucson. Her research laboratory focuses on tissue banking, loss of immune surveillance; gene expression profiling and mutational analysis of lymphoid malignancies; and clinical biomarker assay development. For more information, Read the news release on her appointment.