Exhaustion
Exhaustion
Clinical Collaborators
Stergios Moschos, MD
Clinical Collaborator
Dr. Moschos is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at UNC Chapel Hill. Dr. Moschos completed medical school at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens in Athens, Greece and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Tufts University while serving as a research fellow in the Division of Endocrinology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where he studied the impact of acute leptin deficiency (by acute starvation) on adaptive immune response. He completed his clinical fellowship training in hematology/oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Dr. Moschos has a research focus on identifying molecules that are important for melanoma development and progression, identifying mechanisms of action of FDA-approved and investigational agents in melanoma
Robert Esther, MD, MS
Clinical Collaborator
Dr. Esther is the sole Orthopedic Oncologist at UNC Chapel Hill and one of the state’s leading orthopedic tumor surgeons. Dr. Esther received his MD from Vanderbilt University and completed his Orthopaedic Surgery residency at UNC Chapel Hill. He then continued his training as a Musculoskeletal Oncology Fellow at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Esther has since returned to UNC Chapel Hill as a Professor of Orthopaedics where he serves as a clinical collaborator to Dr. Thaxton’s sarcoma immunotherapy group, enabling the formation of a translationally focused research group dedicated to development of novel immunotherapies for sarcoma and metastatic bone disease patients. Dr. Esther is enthusiastic to contribute to the basic science direction of Dr. Thaxton's research program to generate new clinical trials for sarcoma patients at Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
David Neskey, MD, MSCR
Clinical Collaborator
Dr. Neskey received his BS from Colby College in Biology and his MD with distinction in research from Albany Medical College. He then completed his head and neck surgery residency at the University of Miami and continued to MD Anderson Cancer Center for his fellowship. He joined the faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina in 2014 where he served as the Head and Neck Surgical Oncology Fellowship Director and established his research lab which studied the role of p53 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. In addition, Dr. Neskey leads several ongoing clinical trials including a Phase II trial studying anti-PD1 as a novel neoadjuvant presurgical therapy for locally advanced oral cavity cancer. Dr. Neskey now serves as a head and neck oncology surgeon with Head & Neck Specialists of Charleston, SC.
The Thaxton Lab is working alongside Dr. David Neskey on his Phase II clinical trial studying the use of anti-PD-1 as a novel neoadjuvant presurgical therapy for locally advanced oral cavity cancer patients. We are studying ways to remodel metabolism to improve outcomes in this trial.