The 18th Annual Levi Watkins Jr., MD Lecture will be held at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 8, in 208 Light Hall. Isla Garraway, MD, PhD, associate professor of Urology and director of research at UCLA, will deliver the lecture.
Garraway received her Bachelor of Science degree from Brown University and completed the Medical Scientist (MD-PhD) Training Program at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA with a doctorate in Molecular Biology. Upon completion of the UCLA Urology residency program, she joined the UCLA faculty.
She is currently a member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and member of the Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA.
Garraway is a surgeon-scientist and principal Investigator of a UCLA basic/translational science laboratory that is focused on characterizing human prostate stem and tumor-initiating cells, as well as biological and microenvironmental interactions that influence metastatic progression.
She maintains a clinical practice within the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System, where she also conducts clinical research. Garraway has received the Donald S. Coffey Career Development, Young Investigator, and Challenge Awards from the Prostate Cancer Foundation. She has also received funding from the National Cancer Institute, the Department of Defense, the Jean Perkins Foundation, the STOP Cancer Foundation, and the Margaret E. Early Foundation.
She is the niece of Levi Watkins Jr. MD, the first African American graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
