Pippa Cosper

Biography

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Medicine. The study of cancer biology has been my passion since I was an undergraduate when I studied the role of inflammation in lung cancer. I then attended the MSTP (MD/PhD) program at the University of Colorado and worked with HHMI professor Leslie Leinwand during graduate school. During that time, I established and characterized a model of cardiac muscle atrophy due to cancer. Throughout medical school I loved caring for cancer patients, and combined with my love for cancer research, led me to specialize in radiation oncology.

I moved to St. Louis for my clinical residency at Washington University. I was fortunate to enter into the B. Leonard Holman Research Pathway during residency, which provided protected research time. Following residency, I did a post-doctoral fellowship here at the University of Wisconsin through the Bentson Research Fellowship. I worked under the mentorship of Dr. Beth Weaver and studied how chromosomal instability affects radiation sensitivity. This research created the foundation for my own laboratory, which was started in 2022. Our main focus is chromosomal instability, or chromosome missegregation during mitosis, and how this can be used as a unique vulnerability to promote radiation-induced cell death.

As a physician-scientist, I treat patients with breast and prostate cancers at the UW Health clinic located in Johnson Creek. I am program director for the Benston Translational Research Fellowship, and I am a member of ASTRO and serve on many biology-related committees. I am also actively involved with the Forbeck Foundation, which is based here in Wisconsin.