Salma Kaochar, PhD
About Salma Kaochar, PhD
Dr. Kaochar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Member of the Nuclear Receptor, Transcription, and Chromatin Biology Program at the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center (DLDCCC) at Baylor College of Medicine, and Co-Leader of the Minority Patient-Derived Xenograft (PDX) Development and Trial Center (M-PDTC) at Baylor College of Medicine.
Dr. Kaochar runs a translational research team. Her lab’s research focuses on identifying novel gene targets that can be exploited therapeutically for the treatment of prostate cancer, with a particular focus on identifying new treatment targets that will be effective in African American men with prostate cancer. Her research team is investigating the role of the p160 steroid receptor coactivators in prostate cancer and is developing a novel class of small-molecule inhibitors (SMIs) of the p160 SRCs. The team is also evaluating the therapeutic potential for targeting altered prostate cancer lipid metabolism using novel inhibitors of SREBPs.
Dr. Kaochar is a widely published and active researcher in the prostate oncology field. She has previously received merit-based awards including the Future Innovator Award, Galileo Circle Scholar Award, HHMI EXROP Scholar Award, Beverly Rogers Graduate Fellowship, NIH Predoctoral Institutional Training Fellowship, NIH Kirschstein-NRSA F32 Fellowship, BCM Oncology Training Fellowship, 2018 AACR-Woman in Cancer Research Scholar Award, and a 2018 Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award.
Dr. Kaochar holds an MFA in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Arizona. She completed her postdoctoral fellowships at UT-Southwestern Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine. She spent a short period at Roche Tissue Diagnostics where she worked on the FDA approved INFORM Her2 Dual ISH Assay and received a Roche R&D Top Employee Award for her work. This experience provided her with a unique opportunity to learn how to successfully develop cancer diagnostic tools and the process involved in acquiring FDA approval.