• Genomics
• Tumor biology
• Molecular & cell biology
• Other

Dr. Ow is a Head and Neck Surgeon and Translational Researcher at Montefiore Medical Center-Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Dr. Ow’s research is focused on the translation of genetic and molecular determinants in head and neck squamous cell cancer into clinically useful biomarkers and therapeutic targets.  Specifically, Dr. Ow is studying factors that contribute to radiation and chemotherapy resistance in this disease, as well as genomic alterations acquired during the process of locoregional recurrence, lymph node spread, and distant metastasis.  As a translational scientist, Dr. Ow is involved in active projects studying  laboratory models of HNSCC, research utilizing patient's tumors, as well as clinical research - both retrospective studies and prospective clinical trials.  The ultimate goal of this work is to identify novel ways to improve the survival and functional outcomes among patients with HNSCC.

We have a robust head and neck squamous cell carcinoma tissue bank, which includes stored nucleotides (DNA, RNA) from tumor and matched normal, as well as banked pre- and post- treatment blood samples for a subset of patients.  We have also used a technique called "conditional reprogramming" to establish cell line models from patients treated at our institution.  These resources are linked to a detailed clinical database, which stores key information in a de-identified fashion.