Scott Tomlins, PhD
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Michigan

Dr. Tomlins graduated magna cum laude, with a BA in Biology, from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. He received his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Pathology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is in his last year of the MD/PhD program at the University of Michigan Medical School, and will begin his residency in Pathology at the University of Michigan in July of 2009. 

When Dr. Tomlins entered the program at the University of Michigan, he knew that he wanted to study cancer and work with DNA microarrays, “an emerging technology to profile the expression of thousands of genes in a cancer in a single experiment.” During his second year of medical school, Dr. Tomlins heard a talk by Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan on profiling prostate cancer with DNA microarrays, and began to rotate in Chinnaiyan’s lab. He quickly realized that this lab was going to be “a leader in understanding the molecular basis of prostate cancer.”

In addition to his PCF Young Investigator Award, Dr. Tomilins has received many other honors. They include, but are not limited to, first place in the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation 2008 Excellence in Research Award for Students, an American Association for Cancer Research Team Science Award, the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians. Dr. Tomlins’ work can be found in 48 publications and several poster presentations.

When Dr. Tomlins is not researching in the lab, he enjoys sports, in addition to hobbies such as fly fishing, cooking, reading, and traveling. However, researching prostate cancer, and his desire to find a cure are never far from his mind. “I have continued to work on developing tests for the early diagnosis of prostate cancer using gene fusions as well as characterizing additional dysregulated genes in prostate cancer,” he says, adding, “although I started out interested in a specific technique, rather than a disease, through my research and clinical rotations, I realized how many people prostate cancer affects, and the unique aspects of the disease that complicate diagnosis and treatment,” says Dr. Tomlins.