The AACR-EMD Serono “I’M IN” Oncodisparity Fellowships in Lung and Urothelial Cancers represent a joint effort to encourage and support postdoctoral or clinical research fellows to conduct cancer disparities research and to establish a successful career path in this field. The proposed research should specifically address disparities in oncology care in the area of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) or advanced urothelial carcinoma care and address barriers leading to inequality of cancer care that exist in institutions and within society at large.

2025 Grantees

Scientific Statement of Research 

African American patients with bladder cancer experience worse clinical outcomes which cannot be fully explained by clinical factors alone. Dr. Osman aims to determine how extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA ) contributes to the aggressive phenotypes of bladder cancer in African American patients through enhanced oncogenic transcriptional activation. He plans to leverage comprehensive multi-omics data from the Polyethnic-1000 cohort, combined with functional validation in bladder cancer cell models to identify ecDNA-associated therapeutic vulnerabilities. By characterizing molecular dependencies driven by ecDNA in this population, the project lays critical groundwork for developing targeted precision therapies to address significant unmet clinical needs in bladder cancer care. 

Biography 

Dr. Osman received his medical degree from Zagazig University, Egypt. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine. His research integrates whole-genome sequencing, spatial single-cell analysis, and artificial intelligence to identify genomic drivers of cancer progression and therapeutic resistance. By bridging computational biology with clinical applications, he develops AI-driven predictive models for precision treatment selection. He also spearheads CLONEVO, the first trial evaluating abemaciclib in muscle-invasive bladder cancer. 

Acknowledgment of Support 

“The AACR Fellowship will accelerate my research uncovering genomic drivers of cancer progression and therapeutic resistance by enabling multi-omics and AI integration. The fellowship will provide invaluable resources and collaborative opportunities, positioning me to establish an independent physician-scientist career devoted to precision oncology.”

Scientific Statement of Research 

Precision medicine has led to population-level improvements in lung cancer mortality, with some treatments associated with a doubling of overall survival. Although molecular testing is necessary to identify patients who are eligible for these treatments, it can be difficult to implement in limited-resource and rural settings. Concurrently, patients in the rural U.S. have nearly twofold shorter survival than their urban counterparts, largely due to differences in the uptake of guideline-concordant therapies. Improving access to molecular testing is a modifiable factor that may improve rates of guideline-concordant treatment. Dr. Rhinehart aims to 1) assess barriers and facilitators to molecular testing for non-small cell lung cancer using a validated framework and 2) explore the feasibility of implementing reflex molecular testing in rural health systems. 

Biography 

Dr. Rhinehart completed her medical degree, residency training, and chief residency at the Medical University of South Carolina. She is currently a chief medical oncology fellow at Johns Hopkins University Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, where she is also completing a masters of health sciences degree at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Rhinehart cares for patients with thoracic cancers and is interested in developing health systems level interventions to improve outcomes for patients with lung cancer in the rural United States. 

Acknowledgment of Support 

“Receiving the AACR-EMD Serono “I’M IN” Oncodisparity Fellowship is an invaluable experience which will allow me to conduct research that aims to improve cancer care delivery for patients in the rural US. As an early-stage investigator, I am extremely grateful for this support to develop as a researcher.”