Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics

Associate Professor of Biostatistics

Contact Info:

Research Interests

Day leads the Educational Resource for Tumor Heterogeneity, and continues the evolution of the Oncology Thinking Cap computer modeling facility. These projects use stochastic models of tumor growth to help cancer researchers do thought experiments about cancer biology and treatment, with the goal of improving translational research resources.

Interpreting dose information from disease-free survival curves in adjuvant breast cancer treatment; tracking genetic evolution of breast cancers through molecular studies of individual cells in tumor cell samples and through modeling.

Statistical modeling of events and effects in biology and medicine, development of methods more effective than the usual linear modeling.

Education

• 1981 - Wesleyan University, MA
• 1984 - Harvard University, ScD
• 1986 - Research Fellowship, National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences

Selected Publications

Piwowar HA, Day RS, Fridsma DB. Sharing detailed research data is associated with increased citation rate. PLoS ONE. 2007 Mar 21;2(3):e308.PMCID: PMC1817752

Day RS. Challenges of Biological Realism and Validation in Simulation-Based Medical Education. Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. Artif Intell Med. 2006 Sep;38(1):47-66. Epub 2006 Apr 18. Review. PMID: 16621481 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE].

Day RS, Shackney SE, Peters WP. The analysis of relapse-free survival curves: implications for evaluating intensive systemic adjuvant treatment regimens for breast cancer. Br J Cancer. 2005 Jan 17;92(1):47-54.PMID: 15702076 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE].

Ramanathan RK, Lee K, Mckolanis J, Hitbold E, Schraut W, Moser AJ, Warnick E, Whiteside T, Osborn J, Kim H, Day RS, Troetchel M, Finn OJ. Phase I study of a MUC1 vaccine composed of different doses of MUC1 peptide with SB-AS2 adjuvant in resected and locally advanced pancreatic cancer. Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy. Epub, Sep 14, 2004.

Day RS, Manning BK, Garrott D, Brufsky AM, Baar J, Egorin MJ, Shirey WE, Friedman C. Evaluation of the OncoTCap (Oncology Thinking Cap) Simulation in Teaching Medical Students about Clinical Trials: Some Successes and Some Surprises. J Cancer Ed.19(3):149-155,2004.PMID:15458869 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Ramanathan RK, Hwang JJ, Zamboni WC, Sinicrope FA, Safran H, Wong MK, Earle M, Brufsky A, Evans T, Troetschel M, Walko C, Day R, Chen HX, Finkelstein S. The low over-expression of HER-2/neu in Advanced Colo-Rectal Cancer limits the usefulness of Trastuzumab (Herceptin®) and Irinotecan as therapy. A Phase II trial. Cancer Invest. 22(6):858-865. 2004. PMID: 15641483 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Shackney SE, Smith CA, Pollice A, Brown K, Day R, Julian T, Silverman JF. Intracellular Patterns of Her-2/neu, ras, and Ploidy Abnormalities in Primary Human Breast Cancers Predict Postoperative Clinical Disease Free Survival. Clinical Cancer Research. May 1;10(9):3042-52,2004.

Ramalingam S, Belani CP, Day RS, Jacobs SA, Jett JR. Phase II Study of Topotecan and Paclitaxel for Patients with Previously Untreated Extensive Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer. Annals of Oncology. Feb;15(2):247-51,2004.

Welsh C, Day R, McGurk C, Masters JRW, Wood RD and K̦berle B. Reduced levels of XPA, ERCC1 and XPF DNA repair proteins in testis tumor cell lines. Int. J Cancer. Jun 20;110(3):352-61. 2004.

Lu X, Hauskrecht M, Day RS. Modeling Cellular Processes with Variational Bayesian Cooperative Vector Quantizer. Proceedings of the Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing. January 2004.PMID:14992531 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Grants

PO1 CA101944-03 (Lotze, M.T.)
Title: Integrating NK and DC Into Cancer Therapy
Role: Statistician Years Inclusive: 10/1/05 - 6/30/10 Source: NIH/NCI

The goal of this program project is to test the hypothesis that by directing NK and DC to tumor sites in situ, regression of established local disease can be enhanced, promoting a more effective systemic immunity to tumor.

PO1 CA078039-09 (Lazo, J.S.)
Title: Combinatorial Approaches for Novel Cancer Agents
Role: Co-Investigator / Biostatistician Years Inclusive: 04/01/05 - 06/30/10 Source: NIH/NCI

The overall goal of this proposal is to generate novel chemical libraries based on potent natural product-derived pharmacophores and to identify promising new lead structures that affect cancer-relevant molecular targets.

P50 CA090440-07 (Siegfried, J.)
Title: SPORE in Lung Cancer
Role: Biostatistician Years Inclusive: 05/01/06 - 4/30/11 Source: NIH/NCI

The objectives of the UPCI Lung Cancer SPORE are to improve detection and treatment of lung cancer and to understand the mechanisms of increased susceptibility of women to lung cancer.

R01 CA090787-06 (Yalowich)
Title: Mechanisms and Prevention of Etoposided Induced Leukemia
Role: Co-Investigator Years Inclusive: 7/26/07 - 5/31/12 Source: NIH

The major goal of this project is to characterize the mechanism(s) by which myeloperoxidase activation of VP-16 to free radical forms enhances its recombinogenic DNA damaging activity in genomic regions of the MLL gene known to contain breakpoints associated with therapy-related AML. In addition, antioxidants will be examined for their ability to prevent oxidative DNA damage by limiting formation of VP-16 free radical forms.

R01 CA109471-04 (He, Q.)
Title: Fast 3D MR Spectroscopic Imaging of Human Breast Cancer
Role: Investigator / Biostatistician Years Inclusive: 04/01/07 - 03/31/2010 Source: NIH/NCI

The goals of this project are: 1)to improve clinical MR diagnostic specificity of human breast cancer using Sel-MQC sequences for simultaneous mapping of choline, lactate, and unsaturated lipid signals; and 2) to develop fast 3D MRSI methods and improve the temporal resolution for quantitative Sel-MQC mapping of choline, lactate, and unsaturated lipid in breast tissue.

PO1 CA101944-03 (Lotze, M.T.)
Title: Integrating NK and DC Into Cancer Therapy
Role: Statistician Years Inclusive: 10/1/05 - 6/30/10 Source: NIH/NCI

The goal of this program project is to test the hypothesis that by directing NK and DC to tumor sites in situ, regression of established local disease can be enhanced, promoting a more effective systemic immunity to tumor.

PO1 CA078039-09 (Lazo, J.S.)
Title: Combinatorial Approaches for Novel Cancer Agents
Role: Co-Investigator / Biostatistician Years Inclusive: 04/01/05 - 06/30/10 Source: NIH/NCI

The overall goal of this proposal is to generate novel chemical libraries based on potent natural product-derived pharmacophores and to identify promising new lead structures that affect cancer-relevant molecular targets.

P50 CA090440-07 (Siegfried, J.)
Title: SPORE in Lung Cancer
Role: Biostatistician Years Inclusive: 05/01/06 - 4/30/11 Source: NIH/NCI

The objectives of the UPCI Lung Cancer SPORE are to improve detection and treatment of lung cancer and to understand the mechanisms of increased susceptibility of women to lung cancer.

R01 CA090787-06 (Yalowich)
Title: Mechanisms and Prevention of Etoposided Induced Leukemia
Role: Co-Investigator Years Inclusive: 7/26/07 - 5/31/12 Source: NIH

The major goal of this project is to characterize the mechanism(s) by which myeloperoxidase activation of VP-16 to free radical forms enhances its recombinogenic DNA damaging activity in genomic regions of the MLL gene known to contain breakpoints associated with therapy-related AML. In addition, antioxidants will be examined for their ability to prevent oxidative DNA damage by limiting formation of VP-16 free radical forms.

R01 CA109471-04 (He, Q.)
Title: Fast 3D MR Spectroscopic Imaging of Human Breast Cancer
Role: Investigator / Biostatistician Years Inclusive: 04/01/07 - 03/31/2010 Source: NIH/NCI

The goals of this project are: 1)to improve clinical MR diagnostic specificity of human breast cancer using Sel-MQC sequences for simultaneous mapping of choline, lactate, and unsaturated lipid signals; and 2) to develop fast 3D MRSI methods and improve the temporal resolution for quantitative Sel-MQC mapping of choline, lactate, and unsaturated lipid in breast tissue.