Lynae M. Brayboy, MD, a third-year fellow in the Division of Reproduction and Infertility at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, was recently awarded a Physician Scientist Award to participate in the Reproductive Scientist Development Program (RSDP) beginning July 1.
RDSP is a program funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Launched in 1988, RSDP provides career development support for obstetricians and gynecologists who have completed their clinical training and who are committed to a career of basic science research in an academic setting. The goal is to strengthen the field of obstetrics and gynecology by encouraging the application of contemporary science advances to clinical practice.
Dr. Brayboy’s RSn DP research proposal is entitled “The Role of Multidrug Resistant Transporters in the Protection of the Ovary from Chemotherapy.” Her interests include the study of levels of the HE4 protein in ovulatory women to see if they vary during the menstrual cycle. HE4 is a sensitive serological marker that spikes in certain ovarian and endometrial cancers. To optimize it as a tumor marker that can help diagnose a mass as ovarian or endometrial cancer, researchers need to characterize it in normal menstruation.