Hometown: Holland, Michigan
Faculty mentor: Marisa Buchakjian, MD, PhD, clinical assistant professor of otolaryngology – head and neck surgery, University of Michigan Medical School (previously assistant professor, otolaryngology – head and neck surgery, Carver College of Medicine)

Guillermo Flores uses innovative gene-editing technology to identify key genes that drive certain oral cancers to spread more aggressively. Understanding these genes will allow researchers and health care providers to better target and treat oral cancers and prevent them from spreading or recurring after surgery. Even with surgical treatment, cancer returns in 35 percent of patients with advanced disease. Researchers have linked this recurrence with cancer cells’ ability to spread and invade other tissues. By understanding the role of genes in oral cancer’s spread, researchers may gain insights and hopefully develop improved treatments for mouth and throat cancers, which are on the rise in the United States.

Flores hopes to become a surgeon at an academic medical center who also leads a laboratory focused on translating research to new therapies for head and neck cancer.

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