International cancer researcher selects OSU-CHS for prestigious fellowship

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Showket Hussain, Ph.D., a well-known molecular oncologist and senior research officer for the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in New Delhi, has joined Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences on an international visiting fellowship for cancer research.

“Dr. Hussain chose our laboratory for this prestigious fellowship because of his interest in our research related to infectious disease etiology of cancers,” said Anil Kaul, M.D., director of high-complexity clinical laboratories and associate professor at OSU-CHS. “He has made outstanding contributions in the field of cancer research and we are excited to work with him and build long-term research collaboration with one of the most prestigious research Institutions in South Asia.”

During the six-month fellowship, Hussain will work with Anil Kaul and Rashmi Kaul, Ph.D., associate professor of immunology, on how infectious diseases lead to the development of cancer. He will specifically study the role of the human papillomavirus (HPV) and hormones in the development of cervical cancer.

Hussain is one of six Indian scientists sent to the United States for training and to facilitate the establishment of a National Cancer Institute in India by building collaborative relationships with American cancer research institutions.  The cancer institute, in collaboration with and modeled after the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), will be fully functional by 2017.

He earned his doctorate at the Institute of Cytology and Preventive Oncology-ICMR and Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi and conducted postdoctoral research at ICMR and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Hussain’s cancer research is focused on tumor virology, signaling, epigenomics and molecular epidemiology. He has published more than 50 research papers and book chapters in noted academic journals.

As a government scientist, Hussain’s laboratory is at the World Health Organization’s regional HPV referral center and smokeless tobacco research hub in Southeast Asia. He is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the Human Genome Organization in London, the Indian Association for Cancer Research, the Indian Society for Human Genetics and the Indian Leptospirosis Society of India.