My academic career has unfolded in a series of phases, neither preplanned nor with obvious direct connections. The first phase began during college, when I first participated in transplantation research during summer vacations. This was my entree to the field of kidney and liver transplantation, which was the principal focus of my academic pursuits during medical school Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine) surgical residency University of Colorado Health Sciences Center) and as an Assistant Professor University of Colorado) In 1977, I joined the faculty of the University of Arizona, as an Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief, Surgical Service, Tucson VA Medical Center. Although I continued to perform kidney transplants, the focus of my academics shifted to a greater emphasis upon teaching of surgical residents and medical students and research into hepatic regeneration. Additionally, over the next two decades, I assumed additional administrative responsibilities; these included: Associate Department Head, Program Director of the General Surgery Residency, Head, Division of General Surgery, and Acting Head, Department of Surgery. After a year-long sabbatical leave at the University of Pittsburgh, I decided to resume my education, entering the graduate program in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Arizona. I received my Ph.D. in 2004. During my time as a graduate student and for nearly a decade thereafter, I taught several upper level courses in the MCB Department, receiving several teaching awards. My thesis research, which focused upon mechanisms of genomic instability in the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae, quite naturally transitioned to a post-doctoral position with Dr. Jesse Martinez in the Arizona Cancer Center. In addition to bench work on basic mechanisms of carcinogenesis, I collaborated with Dr. David Mount, a renowned bioinformatician, on a project analyzing gene expression changes in eaarly-stage squamous cell carcinoma of the lung predictive of long-term survival versus early death) The ensuing publication has been cited not only for the somewhat surprising gene predictions largely of B lymphocyte origin) but also for the methodologic strategy employing logistic regression. Dr. Mount and I are currently engaged in a second project focusing upon early onset colorectal carcinoma, which quite unfortunately has seen a substantial increase in incidence over the last two decades. Early in 2018, I had the opportunity to join a research laboratory in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine-Tucson. Drs. David Bull and Youngwook Won, the co-principal investigators, have several translational research intitiatives, including one focussed upon targeted immunotherapy; this area of investigation is of great interest to me and I hope to contribute to their efforts. In addition, I am continuing several projects related to mechanisms of oncogenesis and chemotherapeutic drug interactions.In 2022, I joined the Institute for Cellular Transplantation, as Research Professor. I work with Dr. Papas and the leadershiteam to support its research; this includes witing and submitting grants and publications,